Strange New World
by Mr. Wartburg
Summary: The team welcomes an intriguing new member, just before Vandal Savage and The Light execute a plan to remove the Justice League from the equation. Takes place four months after season 1 finale. An AU fic, re-uploaded for editing.
1. New Arrival

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

**This is a re-write of my first ever story on FanFiction. I am not changing much, other than fixing a few character issues as well as tidying up the grammar and punctuation. On that note I'd like to give a big shout-out to my long-time beta, Ansa88, for taking the time to review this story with me.**

**I just want this story to be a little more polished and to better kick off my AU that is currently five stories deep at this point. I initially wrote this just before season 1 ended, and in the update I have made the story fit the canon season finale. This story takes place four months after the finale.**

**To anyone who has read this before, I hope you take the time to review it again at the end. If you haven't seen this before, consider this a great opportunity to read, in my opinion, a very good story with a kick ass original character. Plus, once you read this I hope you will take the time to read the other stories that I have written or am writing in this AU. Those can be found on my profile page. With all that said and done, I have nothing else to say except: **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**April 1****st****, 2012  
****Star City  
****11:30 p.m. ****  
**

Roy Harper, better known to the world as Red Arrow, had been out on patrol for the better part of four hours. He had gotten used to the quiet during the three solo months after his split from Ollie. So far, he'd stopped a few minor crimes, including an attempted robbery by some punk, hopped up on God-knows-what, who tried to use a toy gun to hold up a 7-11.

_And just another half an hour 'till Wally won't be trying to prank me anymore, _Roy thought with a little smirk. Wally and Robin had been trying to mess with him all day while trying to teach Connor the concept of April Fool's Day. Too bad for them, he'd stopped by the cave earlier to deliver some intel on Sportsmaster to Bats and heard them planning some elaborate schemes. They were persistent little shits though, so he knew he'd have to stay on guard. Roy definitely didn't want a repeat of last year's incident with the pink-dye shampoo.

* * *

**April 2****nd  
****4:00 a.m.****  
**

Roy was just about to head home for the night when he got a call from Oliver. Apparently Watchtower's sensors detected an anomalous energy signature and he was the closet to its origin, an alley in the old town section of Star. As Ollie was out in Gotham helping Batman, the Emerald Archer thought Roy should see if there was anything to the incident. Begrudgingly, he told GA that he'd check it out, though he was on the other side of town and would take some time to get there.

* * *

**4:00 a.m. **

Just before Roy received the call about the energy reading, a blinding light was heard in a unlit back alley. The light was fleeting, but from its epicenter a man was thrown headlong into a garbage dumpster, his head colliding violently with the metal. As he lay on the ground, the man tried recounting how he ended up in the alley. He had been driving to the store to pick up some grilling supplies when a bright light engulfed him while he drove. What he couldn't fathom was why he could remember was being forcibly thrown at a metal dumpster in the middle of an alley at night! Struggling to sit up he took stock of the bleak surroundings he found himself in. This part of town, of whatever city he was in, was old; the faded and cracked bricks of the buildings were a dead giveaway.

Despite what felt like concussion he raised himself from the ground and walked down the alley towards the street he saw to his right. Whatever time it was he could tell that it was pretty dead. _Must be pretty late, _he thought, trudging down the alley on what felt like a sprained left ankle.

"Well, definitely had worse," he said to no one in particular. Given his state of confusion from thrown into a completely different environment, he failed to notice the pain stopped, along with the slight limp he had started with. After reaching the street, he pondered his surroundings. He was in a large city for sure, but so far couldn't place where he was.

_I should probably know where I am before I call anyone to come get me, _he thought to himself, walking down the street while pulling out his phone. When he did so, he found that his beat up phone wasn't quite the saving grace people often hoped it would be in case of an emergency. _Great, no f-ing signal, what else could go wrong right now? Shit, did I just think that? Well, of course life is now going to be obligated to shovel more shit my way._

Feeling a presence above him he turned around quickly and looked up to find no one, though he thought he'd caught a glimpse of red. Dismissing the feeling, he continued to saunter down the street, hoping to piece together what the hell happened to him. While walking, he passed a 24-hour McDonald's and decided to grab some food. After ordering a McChicken and fries he was told that his credit card wasn't working. Without cash he couldn't eat.

"I could have sworn that I put money on it a few days ago!" He angrily stated, his attitude beginning to annoy the short red-head behind the counter. After being declined service, he turned around to leave. Pushing through the doors, he looked up in the night sky.

"What the hell is going on?"

_I should go back to where I came to and see if there's anything I can see, now that I'm thinking clearly again. Guess that headache didn't last long ._ On the walk back, he was more aware of the temperature as the shock had subsided and was glad that he was still wearing his black fleece, though it fit a more tightly than he remembered. If he hadn't been thrown into these new surroundings, he probably would have noticed that his gray Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt and his nearly worn out carpenter jeans were straining to stay on his frame.

"Ha! I knew I was missing something!" He gleefully exclaimed upon reaching back into the alley. The reason for the excitement was the he'd spotted his Iowa Hawkeye hat lying underneath the dumpster and he'd somehow missed it when he first woke up.

_Finally, something going right, _he thought, putting on the slightly abused hat. He'd been born and raised in Iowa and bled black and gold for the Hawkeyes every year. Given his farm upbringing and love of baseball, he always felt like wearing a hat was necessary and the familiar hat with the large white "I" on the front had basically become part of his identity.

After getting his hat back on he decided to look around a little more, but didn't get very far before he picked up on the noise filtering down the alley from the street side. What he saw did not look good in any way, shape or form.

* * *

**4:30 a.m. **

Roy had finally reached the sport relayed to him by GA. _Why did I even agree to do this little bitch quest, _Roy thought in frustration, _I shouldn't be picking up JL scraps; this is exactly why I left._

Roy pulled out the handheld scanner Ollie had made him grad from a nearby weapons cache and turned it on. The tech was registering no traces of the signal that had made the League send him to his current location. But when he peered down into the alley below he saw an interesting sight.

A ball-capped kid was sprinting down the alley and slowed up slightly to pick up an old baseball bat that some tenant must have thrown out into the alley without making sure it hit the dumpster. Looking further up the alley Roy saw the object of the young person's attention, a group of three men all of whom were armed and shaking a woman down. Roy instinctively drew his bow and reached for his tazer arrows, but he didn't even get the chance to fire them.

By the time that Red Arrow had notched his first arrow, the man with the bat had reached the attackers. After a shattering blow was delivered to the outside part of one of the attackers, they switched focus from the woman to the man. When the amateur hero took a swing at the second attacker, the bat was caught and stripped from him and he was stabbed in the shoulder by a switchblade. Roy fired his arrow at the third assailant and watched in shock as the young man simply looked at his right shoulder and the knife protruding from. Instead of fear or pain, Roy saw the man seemed more pissed than anything and in the blink of an eye the man with the stab wound drew his left arm back and threw a strong jab at the gut of the last target. Instead of staggering him, the punch sent the man flying 30 feet and he would surely need to be hospitalized if he lived through the concussion of the blow. _Damn! Where the hell did that come from!_

"Holy shit!" Roy heard the exclamation of the quasi-vigilante, who looked down at his hands, the right one being covered in blood that flowed from his shoulder. He had just punched a man 30 ft. through the air! The young man look around as the sound of a zip-line attaching to a wall echoed through the alley. His eyes settle on Roy as he checked on the attackers to see if they were still breathing.

"They're alive," Roy stated slightly agitated. He hadn't planned on anything like this ever happening when he responded to Ollie's request. "And how the hell did you do that?" He questioned the wounded hero, pointing at the man lying 30 feet away.

"Fuck if I know! One minute I'm driving to Wal-Mart, then I'm transported to God knows where without any idea what's going on and to top it all off I beat the crap out of the asshole who stabbed me! And just who or what the hell are you and where the hell am I?"

Roy, not thrown in the slightest by the young man's outburst, quickly responded. "I'm Red Arrow and you're in Star City. How about you? What's your name, kid?"

"Star City? How the hell did I get here? Hell, I don't even know where that is! And since I didn't get an actually name, I ain't giving you mind." The man flicked the bill of his hat and smirked. "For now, just call me Hawkeye because I literally have no idea what the hell is going on."

Roy didn't like the kid's answers. He crossed his arms as he looked the kid up and down. "Alright then 'Hawkeye', what are you doing in this alley this late at night?" "

"Seriously dude…it's been…a…pretty …screwed up…d-." And just like that he passed out from what Roy assumed to be blood loss. _That cut must have been deeper than I thought._

Roy hurriedly activated his comm to call for help, something he didn't often do. "Red Arrow to Justice League. Tell GA that I'm going to be using his med ward at his base. There's a patient that you might to send someone down to help me look at."


	2. Answers and Questions

**Thanks to Ansa88 for beta-ing once again.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**April 2****nd  
****Mount Justice  
****2:00 pm****  
**

After he'd passed out from blood loss, he heard voices every now and then. He had apparently been moved to Green Arrow's hideout. From what he gathered the startling revelation about his condition led him to be transported to another location for further testing.

"Whoa!" He said as he opened his eyes to see his futuristic surroundings. Wherever he was it was very high tech, much more than anything he'd ever seen. Taking in this new environment he hoisted himself off the table before noticing two strangely dressed men standing on the opposite side of the room conversing in hushed tones. _What is up with this place?_

As he stared at the two men he heard the one with the black cape and cowl speak. "It seems our guest has finally decided to wake up." How the man had seen him he couldn't figure, seeing as how both men had their backs turned to him.

As the costumed men turned to face him all he managed to choke out a question. "Uh, yeah. Would either of you mind filling me in on where the hell I am and who you are?"

This time the green clad man spoke first. "You're in a private medical facility. Though we were actually hoping you could answer a few of our questions first."

"What did you have in mind?" Thomas asked with trepidation. The glare from the man dressed like a bat was unnerving him to say the least.

"Before we get to that I guess introductions are in order. Your name?"

"Thomas."

The green one said openly, "Nice to meet you. I'm Green Arrow and this is somber fellow on my left is Batman."

At this statement, Thomas balked. "Bullshit. How do I know you're not just trying to pull one over on me? Seriously, who calls themselves Batman and Green Arrow!"

The man who called himself 'Green Arrow' shook his head, not believing the kid didn't know who they were. "Because we're superheroes. Have you been living under a rock? I mean, I don't like to brag, but we're kind of big deals."

"I hate to insult your ego, but I've seriously never heard of any superheroes at all, let alone either of you too."

Green Arrow looked shocked at his response. "So you've never heard of superheroes? What, do you have amnesia or something?"

"No, on both questions. I know who I am and where I'm from. And there are no superheroes there."

"Well, I think we've got a pretty good way to settle this one." The man known as Green Arrow stated with a little smirk tugging at the edge of his mouth.

At this, 'Batman' signaled said something on his comm and in flew a red caped, blue costumed giant of a man who promptly began to melt the table that Thomas had just been laying on moments ago. At this, Thomas's eyes nearly bulged out his sockets and he was at a loss for words. He saw Batman, who now he acknowledged was not kidding around, giving a short nod to the floating man with an S on his chest.

"Was it really necessary to melt the table? Those things are quite expense, even for the League." Batman sounded a tad annoyed with the man.

"Hey, you said make a point. So I did. I need to go; Metallo decided it'd be a good day to hold the Metropolis mayor hostage on top the Daily Planet."

As Superman left, Batman turned to face young man, who was utterly confused by what was going on around him. His jaw was still nearly on the floor and he had the look of a person in total awe of what they just saw.

Thomas literally couldn't believe that someone had just flown in like it was nobody's business and melt a table with his eyes. _Damn, now I feel like a jackass. _He hardly noticed when Batman turned to face him, but when he did he gulped noticeably and focused solely on the man in black. The veteran hero looked at Thomas. "Now, from the beginning, tell me who you are and how got to Star City. If you're lying, I'll know."

"Trust me," Green Arrow quickly interjected. "he'll know." Looking at Batman the Emerald Archer sheepishly added, "He is after all, the Goddamned Batman." He smirked after that, as if he was remembering a funny story from the past, which clearly irritated Batman, as GA couldn't move fast enough to get out.

Thomas took a deep breath before starting his tale. "Well, it all started when my dad met and my mom back in '82…and when a man really loves a woman he gives a special hug." He cracked up at that point but sobered up when he saw that Batman wasn't too keen on the joke. Thomas straightened his smile and went about telling Batman what he needed to hear. "Hey, I sometimes deal with problems with humor, sue me. I mean, where I'm from there are even vigilantes, let alone people who can melt tables with their eyes!" Thomas took a breath before getting back to his story. "All right, I was on my way to Wal-Mart with my buddy Chris to get some stuff for grilling seeing as how on March 10th it was 70 degrees outside."

"Stop," Batman sternly interjected. "we want more concrete information. The basics: who you are, where you're from and then get into how you got here."

"Dude, are you going to let me tell you the story or not?" Thomas asked a little frustrated with the Dark Knight. His only response was a stern glare. _Note to self, _Thomas thought, _don't call Batman "dude". _"Fine. Well, like I said, my name is Thomas. I'm from a farm in northern Iowa…."

* * *

Five minutes later Batman walked out of the room with a quick turn leaving Thomas standing there with only his thoughts to keep him company. _How the hell did I get myself into this mess? _

Outside, Batman was about to converse with several members of the League to determine their next course of action. Red Arrow was also present, seeing as he'd been the one that found him in Star City in the first place. Roy was the first to question the Dark Knight as he exited the exam room.

"So who is he?"

Roy had always been blunt, which hadn't changed since he became Red Arrow. Batman, for his part, simply went to computer and began looking up information on the new arrival. After completing a quick search, he turned to face the League members in attendance.

"It appears our guest here may have been pulled from an alternate reality. Either that, or he was cloned. It's also possible that both of those scenarios have taken place, based on his blood work."

"Wait, so he's from another universe and a clone?" Flash was looking at Batman incredulously. "I mean, we deal with crazy every day, but this is a whole new level of weirdness."

This time Superman stepped forward towards Batman, his large frame commanding the league's attention.

"I agree with Flash. Someone would have to go through a lot of trouble to both bring him here and then clone him. If that is really what happened, then we have to assume that said person or group had a plan and that he's either on the run or they set him loose. Any results from the blood screen?"

Batman had stood silent while his associates stated everything he'd already thought of. It was frustrating sometimes when every single one of them felt the need to re-state the obvious, especially to Batman, who of all people, had already thought of it!

"Yes Clark, I got his blood results back just before he woke up. That's what led me to believe that he indeed was a clone. It's his answers that led me to think he's from an alternate universe after I checked out his story."

While Batman called up the interview and the information he'd been searching none of them, not even Batman had noticed a certain 13-year old acrobat had snuck into the meeting area. Had Bats caught him, Dick knew that he would have been punished, but also he knew that Bruce would probably be proud that he'd gotten in without him even noticing.

_Or maybe he did notice and doesn't care?_ That paranoid thought shook Dick out of his reprieve in the shadows. The Boy Wonder had been listening enough to be quite intrigued by Batman's information on whoever was in the locked med bay. Superboy had bruised one of Robin's ribs and he'd been trying to get some wraps when he had first come across the locked door, making him even more suspicious when he saw half the League coming to meet Batman.

Batman's voice again drew Robin's attention. "There is indeed a Thomas Jacobs from the location that our guest told me. However, that Thomas still lives at that location, has never been reported missing, goes to the same college, and is four years older than our guest. I bring age up because the Thomas we have locked in the med ward thinks or maybe remembers that he's 21. I've had Manhunter scanning his memories from outside the room to corroborate his story and it so far appears to check out. His workup shows that physically he's actually about 17, which lends support to the clone theory."

_So that's why Manhunter was in the hall earlier, I thought he was here to see M'gann._ Robin thought, kicking himself mentally as well. _I should have suspected something, not too often something's pulled completely over my eyes like that._

"In summary," Batman's voice again drifted into the shadows to Robin's ears, "he's telling us the truth. In his universe there are no superheroes, he is completely unaware of who we are and what we do. Outside of that our worlds for the most part do appear to be similar in many respects. Judging from our DNA analysis, we know that the Martian race existed at one time in his world, but we speculate they do not any longer.

"Wait, how do you know this has to do with the Martians?" Wonder Woman's interruption seemed to slightly annoy Batman, who pressed on with the briefing.

"That will be dealt with shortly. Regardless of these facts, when he first appeared in Star City he drew the attention of Red Arrow, which is why the latter is sitting in on this meeting."

Roy stepped up to Bats. "And here I thought I was actually here as something other than an outsider." A quick glare at GA and Bats and he continued. "As mentioned I was out on patrol and I noticed the kid running down an alley toward a mugging/rape. Outside of something with speed abilities, I've never seen anyone run that fast. He picked up a bat from the ground and completely shattered one of the three attacker's knees. Faster than I thought possible, he hit another in the face with the end of the bat, and I hit said target with a Taser arrow. While he was going for the third and final guy, Thomas was stabbed in the right shoulder and dropped the bat. I wasn't in position for a good shot as Thomas was literally only inches from the attacker. Thomas just looked down at the knife and then back up at the man. It was like it barely even fazed him."

"And why didn't you help him Roy?" Green Arrow leaned forward to talk to Roy and he tried not to sound too hostile. He still wanted the kid to come home and be his partner, but he didn't see how to get the young man to realize it.

"I was getting into position for a shot when Thomas used a left uppercut to punch the guy in the gut. The guy flew 30 feet backwards!" A few members of the League all of sudden seemed to focus and pay attention to Roy again.

_Great, so it's only when something like this happens that they even care what I say, _Roy thought before going on with events of the previous night. "I zip-lined down to make sure that the women was all right and then proceed to check on the attackers. When I knew they'd all live, I came over to Thomas, who wouldn't tell me his real name and just said to call him Hawkeye, which was pretty weird. Anyways, I kind of got in his face about hitting the guy like that when he could have killed him. He seemed shocked about the whole ordeal and then he just passed out, he'd lost a lot of blood from the stab wound, though the knife not being taken out had helped to keep it from getting too bad."

Diana, who'd been on monitor duty at Watchtower, spoke up. "And that's when I got a call from Red Arrow asking me to let Green Arrow know that Roy would be using his facility. I sent Hal over to check on the situation and he seemed quite adamant we needed to call Batman."

Robin still watched from the shadows as the League turned to Green Lantern. "Well, the preliminary reports from GA's computer in the 'Arrowcave' showed some odd blood results." Robin snickered at the 'Arrowcave' comment and slapped himself for blowing his cover. If Bats hadn't heard him he knew that Supes would with that annoying super-hearing.

"Robin!"

He heard Bats scolding voice, though Rob couldn't remember how his mentor hadn't gotten over to him so fast. "Out now! Go home and we will discuss this later."

Robin found himself on the receiving end of a stern Bat-glare, though he couldn't help but crack a joke at Oliver's expense.

"Arrowcave, really? Seems a little like a knocknoff."

"Yeah, well your mentor doesn't have a monopoly on caves. What you would name it, Boy Wonder?" Ollie didn't take too kindly to his hero work being called into question by anyone, let alone a 13 year old kid.

"I don't something cooler. Maybe 'The Quiver", you know, to keep with the archery theme or just stay with something simple yet classy, like 'The Cave." Robin knew that Bats was bearing down on him so he ran as fast as he could toward the zeta-tube.

_Recognized, Robin: B-01. _With the computer's confirmation that his ward was gone Batman turned back to the group who were looking at him amusedly. Superman was the first to speak.

"He certainly picked up your annoying spying habits."

That earned him a stare down from Batman, who wanted to get the meeting back on track.

"So let's get back to it. Hal?"

Earth's first GL spoke hurriedly. "Right, so I called you about the story and the apparent super strength and you took him here for examination. If I recall you said it's be safer than Watchtower since we didn't know what he could do just yet."

"Correct." Batman had jumped into the conversation to deliver his final thoughts on the matter. "Thomas's DNA shows signs of genetic manipulation that could only be done during the process of cloning someone. Doing this to a living person would kill them." While Batman spoke, J'onn walked into the room.

"I believe that Batman is correct." Heads around the room quickly spun the Martian. "But the only way all this fits together is if somehow they found a way to download his mind into a new body." J'onn noticed the quizzical stares from his comrades and endeavored to explain himself. "Human memories cannot be downloaded and uploaded with today's technology without leaving pieces behind, but this is a complete transfer. Why that would have been done is beyond my comprehension and whoever is responsible was quite thorough in erasing his memories of the incident. He still thinks it is March 10th as opposed to April 2nd. The people responsible for this undoubtedly had a gifted telepath to wipe said memories from his mind. When a telepath wipes an individual, it leaves traces that someone like me can detect. Those traces are still present in Thomas's mind. Whoever did this held him for quite a long time."

Roy was the first to react to the news. "So what did they do to him?" His simple question seemed to be what most of the League also were interested in.

Batman continued speaking. "It appears that they have somehow found a way to evolve his DNA. My own theory is that they were trying to create a human super soldier. By all appearances, he appears to be a more highly evolved human. The only thing we had similar in our database was Vandal Savage's DNA. I have an idea about how it was done, but perhaps Martian Manhunter can fill you all in on the implications of his changes."

All eyes turned back to J'onn, who drew a deep breath before elaborating on Batman's statement. "What I am about to tell you will undoubtedly shock many of you, especially my human friends. Eons ago the White Martians were of equal strength with my Green Martian ancestors. This was before our great civil war decimated the White Martians. Our scientists, working together discovered that our sister planet, Earth, had developed life on a similar evolutionary path to that of Kryptonians."

"What the hell!?" Flash seemed utterly confused. "What the heck happened to us then?"

J'onn sighed. "I am getting to that, my friend. The Green Martians believed that we should allow your race to develop naturally. Our White Martian brothers deceived us and experimented on this early human population, hoping to unlock their genetic secrets that would eventually give them so much power. Their leaders had known that these experiments would genetically cripple the humans, given their small gene pool at the time, but still they proceeded with the experiments. The end result was essentially humanity as it is today, though a few pockets of humanity, like the Amazons, overcame the genetic tampering. As we know it today, ordinary humans have no powers and there is only a sprinkling of genetic mutation allowing for a few meta-humans per hundred million. Even after all this time, humanity is only beginning to recover from the White Martian's barbarism. It appears that in Thomas's universe, a similar phenomenon occurred. The same genetic tampering appeared in his genetic makeup, but it was nearly completely reversed in Thomas's genetic code. Whoever did this had the specific goal of either neutralizing or reversing that genetic tampering. While it may not have been the work of Martians, it would appear to be a logical conclusion. Yet Thomas's world has not appeared to recover as this one has. There are no meta humans where he is from, nor has there been any contact with alien civilizations."

"So let me get this straight, you're telling us that we could have been like him?" Black Canary had finally spoken up and was point directly at the Man of Steel.

J'onn was quick to continue. "Not exactly my friend, you would have been similar in many ways to Kryptonian physiology, but the barbaric treatment by the White Martians squashed that promise. Needless to say, when my ancestors found out they sought to stop the White Martians. Ultimately this incident is what led to our civil war and the near annihilation of the White Martian race.

"Damn, J'onn. That's pretty messed up. How come this is the first we've ever heard of this?" Hal was a little nonplussed over this whole ordeal and just wanted to answers.

"I feared that if humans knew the truth they would be too distrustful of the Martian race and that conflict would be inevitable. I hope this information does not leave this room, but it is yours to do with as you will." J'onn simply put his down in shame for what his people had done to an innocent race.

Red Arrow was the first to speak. "Not to really try to change the subject, but how does this relate back to Thomas?" Roy certainly had a one track mind and he still hadn't figured out what the heck was going on. It was starting to piss him off.

J'onn shook himself out of his shameful reprieve. "Apologies for the long-winded explanation, my young friend. I mean to say that Thomas's DNA looks like what humans were always meant to be at the genetic level. At the same time there are genetic markers present that are usually only present in cloned specimens. The technique used appears to be highly similar, if not identical, to the one used on Superboy. Based on your report of the incident, I believe the preliminary reports are correct and Thomas's mind has been downloaded into an untainted clone of himself."

"WHAT!?" No one had seen Thomas enter the room. They couldn't know that he'd gotten mad at his situation and punched the door, or that said punch bent the door out and shorted the lock thus enabling it to open. While they knew none of that, it was plain as day that Thomas was shell shocked at the bomb that J'onn had just dropped on everyone.

* * *

**Please review!**


	3. Explanation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice nor any other DC characters depicted within, this is solely a work of fan fiction.**

**Again, thanks to Ansa88 for beta-ing this story. Remember to review at the end!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**April 2****nd  
****Mount Justice  
****2:30 pm**

Manhunter's voice was the only sound in the cavernous meeting room. "… If the preliminary reports are correct and based on your report of the incident I believe they are, then Thomas's mind has been downloaded into an untainted clone of himself."

"WHAT!?" No one had seen Thomas enter the room, they couldn't know that he'd gotten mad at his situation and punched the door or that said punch bent the door out and shorted the lock thus enabling it to open. While they knew none of that, it was plain as day that Thomas was shell shocked at the bomb that J'onn had just dropped on everyone.

Roy was the first to move towards their guest, though he had no idea what to do given the situation. As he moved to the hallway, he found his path blocked by an arm to the chest. Batman had stepped in and spoke directly to Thomas in a rather annoyed type of tone. "I would rather have told you all of this in person. As it is, you now know the situation, or at least part of it. I will have Red Arrow escort you back to the medical lab while the League discusses the situation."

"Wait, so I'm on babysitting duty now? That's a load of crap!" Roy was getting more and more pissed off with how ignored he'd been all afternoon. Now they stuck him with glorified monitor duty instead of including him in the actual decision making!

Batman gave a short reply. "You have your assignment, Red Arrow. I suggest you complete it." He followed it up with a world renowned Bat-glare.

"Fine, doesn't mean I have to like it." Roy wasn't one for getting intimated, even by Batman. Telling him off had felt good. _I probably shouldn't push my luck though._ With that thought in mind, he turned towards Thomas and motioned for him to follow back towards the medical bay. Roy wasn't much for conversation, which is why the new guy was quick to get on his nerves when he opened his mouth.

"So Red Arrow is it? Mind filling me in on what they're talking about? I only caught the last little bit about me having a cloned body, at least I think that's what I heard." There was a large amount of trepidation in the young man's voice as he spoke to Roy and the archer knew he should at least tell him something.

Roy didn't want to give too much information so he started with something small. "First off, I can't tell you everything until Bats tells you himself. However, I can ask you is if what Batman said is true." They had reached the med bay and Roy motioned for Thomas to file in ahead of him. Upon entering the room Roy noticed the large dent in the door. "Damn man, I see the door must have really made you mad."

Thomas just shrugged and looked Roy right in the eye. "What can I say? It was giving me dirty looks."

"Dirty looks, huh?"

"Yeah, and it insulted my mother. I was a little upset."

At this Red Arrow couldn't help but crack a little smile. "I think I'm starting to like you, kid."

Thomas was quick to cut of Roy's laughter. "Woah, what's with this 'kid' crap? Last I checked I was 21!"

Red Arrow's eyes narrowed behind his mask, this was certainly a new development. _Well isn't that just great. On top of being from another universe and having a clone body, he's also 21? I thought Bats said he was 17 at the most._ After thinking things through Roy thought it best to press for information. _Maybe if I actually done some digging for these clown, they'll see me in a different light. Ah, who am I kidding? I don't need their approval. They brought me in on this and I'm doing it my way!_

"I guess you kind of missed that part of the briefing. I think I should let Batman explain that one to you."

Thomas was quickly thinking through the scenario, all but oblivious to Roy's attempt to dodge the issue. "I'd wager that my mind was downloaded into the clone before it had the chance to reach proper maturity."

"Your assumption is indeed correct." Both teens jumped at the deep baritone of Batman who had entered the room unnoticed by either. "Red Arrow, leave." He then proceeded to fix Roy with a glare that all but said, _If you don't leave I WILL make you._ Needless to say, Roy felt like he'd had enough of the situation and walked out of the room.

As the crimson archer left, Batman turned towards Thomas and spoke plainly, "Here is the situation. As you heard, your mind has been telepathically transferred into a clone's body. As you correctly surmised, it is a clone that has not yet reached maturity, but it truly is your own mind, according to Martian Manhunter."

"Well, that's just wonderful, isn't it?" Thomas's voice was rich with sarcasm. "Any idea how I got here? Why am I suddenly strong enough to nearly punch through titanium doors? And why the hell was I pulled from my world?" Thomas was rapidly firing questions at Batman. He wasn't in the mood for drawn out explanations.

Batman took Thomas's new attitude in stride, having dealt with an agitated teenaged Robin on many occasions. "Firstly, I want to tackle the latter issue you mentioned. What is the last thing you remember?"

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I remember getting creeped out by the blood donor people on campus. They were way too doctor-y to be volunteers. Before I could ask who they were, they were gone; with my blood, no less. A few hours later I was driving to Wal-Mart to get some food and then there was this big flash of light. Next thing I know I'm being thrown in a garbage dumpster in a world that is definitely not my own."

With a curt nod Batman turned out of the room and headed back to the League. Thomas faintly heard the computer from the med bay: _Recognized: Superman 01, Superboy B04._ When Batman re-entered the room the first words out of Thomas's mouth were, "There's a Superboy? Shit, if that's the case then I think I know where I am!" With that exclamation Thomas's deep hazel eyes widened considerably and his face took an expression of awe.

"Is there anything else?"

Thomas shook his head. "No. Why is this happening? I mean, what makes me so damn special that they would kidnap me from an alternate universe?"

Before he could break down any further he felt a sturdy hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Batman who simply said, "We'll figure this out."

With that the Bat left the room and talked to some of the Leaguers outside. Thomas was too busy thinking about how his family would react to his disappearance and how he would never see them again to notice that several hours passed before several leaguers walk slowly into the brightly lit room. The first to speak was Superman, who had returned from Metropolis.

"The League has come to a decision. For the time being, you are to remain here at the mountain while we try to figure out a more permanent arrangement."

Thomas visibly paled at the statement. "Did you just say fucking permanent?"

Several Leaguers visibly tensed at Thomas's choice of language though most let it slide. Superman however, did not. "Young man, don't take that tone with me. We have no idea how you got here or who did it. Rest assured we'll work on it, but we do have other priorities. Red Arrow will show you to your room."

After Superman finished speaking the League turned to leave, but Thomas had one last parting comment. "So someone has the tech to cross universes _and _undue a genetic defect hundreds of millennia in the making and that _isn't_ the highest priority?"

_Fucking assholes, _Thomas thought as he left the veteran heroes in his wake when he followed Red Arrow down the hall towards wherever he was supposed to heading.

After they turned the corner Roy finally spoke up. "By the way, that was pretty awesome standing up to the League like that. I've been fighting them a long time, so trust me, I get it. Oh, considering I know your name, it's only fair you know mine. It's Roy. No last names though, at least not yet."

Thomas gave a slight smirk at the last remark. "Works for me, Roy. So what did Batman tell you about the situation?"

Roy slowed up as they reached a new door. It opened up at detecting a presence. As they entered the unused sleeping quarters, Roy said, "From what Batman said you're going to stay here while we figure out what exactly was done to you and what kind of abilities you have. Not sure if I'll be training with you yet, but honestly, I'd rather not. Someone will come get you tomorrow morning and you'll get the grand tour and maybe meet the other residents of the base." Roy turned to leave, but stopped to make one last comment, "For what it's worth, I know this must really suck. Try to get some sleep, I'll see you around." The metallic doors quietly slid closed behind him.

Rounding the corner from Thomas's room, Roy couldn't help but wonder a great many things. _Jesus, what must be going through his mind right now? Finding out you're from a different universe, a clone, being separated from everyone you know and coming to terms with super powers. That's a pretty fucked up day, even by JL standards._


	4. Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice nor any other DC characters depicted within, this is solely a work of fan fiction.**

**Again, thanks to Ansa88 for beta-ing this story. Remember to review at the end!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**April 16****th  
****Mount Justice  
****9 a.m.****  
**

"Two weeks have passed since I've arrived in this new world. It's been weird to say the least, not to mention frustrating, annoying, and just downright awful. There are still so many questions I needed answered, the most pressing of which is how the hell I am I supposed to find a place in this world? All I want it so to find a way home." Thomas sat and stared at the video screen for a minute. Someone on the League thought it would be a good idea for him to have an outlet, given that he hadn't been too communicative since his arrival. Though as of late, things had been getting slightly better since he had a conversation with an unexpected visitor a few days ago in his room.

* * *

**Two days ago**

_He was sitting on my bed with his elbows resting on my knees having just gotten changed into his to standard wardrobe of dark blue jeans and t-shirt when it all of a sudden hit him: _What the fuck am I doing? Is there any point anymore? _He just lost himself in thought for a few hours. He'd done so countless times over the past 14 days, but couldn't stop myself from going down the road yet again._

_Thomas first thought about his young brother Chad. In early spring, they'd be outside playing baseball in the warm spring sun, with Thomas hitting him groundballs in the newly green and uneven lawn. _He always did need work on playing the hops better in the infield; _Thomas couldn't help it as a sad little smirk crossed his face with the good memories. Spring also meant getting the farm ready for planting season, meaning his dad, Kent, would torture (at least that's what Thomas thought) him with long days when he wasn't away at college. He was a good man, one that taught Thomas the value of a long day's work. He didn't really mind the work, though because spring just meant he needed a lot of help to get the family farm ready for a new season. In fact looking back, he was glad he'd grown up like he had. There are few things like farm life that get you ready to be your own man and take on the world. _

_Unfortunately spring it also meant that his mother, Mary, wanted to take down all the winter decorations around the house to get ready for Easter. _God did I loath helping with that_. Instead of smirking, Thomas mulled over the fact that now he wouldn't even have the chance to hate decorating his childhood home ever again. He thought about how his younger sister, Emily would be graduating from two-year tech school and getting a job and laughed when he remembered his older (though smaller than him) sister, Allison, was stilling living at home despite being nearly 24._

_He laughed inwardly to about how she always hated being the little sibling despite being the oldest by two years. That said, Thomas hadn't been a giant himself, only standing a just over 5' 7" when he was "abducted". His younger brother was damn near a spitting image of Thomas, though only at 16. He was going to be one hell of a track star by the time he graduated high school. As Thomas dropped his head in his hands, he thought, _ I'll miss him the most. _As he got older, they didn't talk a lot, with Thomas at college, but they didn't need to. They were close like that, knowing each other well enough to communicate a lot with simple conversations that would seem completely without meaning. It really panged him that he wouldn't get the chance to see Chad really finish growing up._

_A chime at the door pulled Thomas out of his reverie of sorrowful thoughts. With his mind clearly elsewhere Thomas, yelled that the door was open. It took him a minute to realize that whoever it was just stood in the threshold giving him the long stare._

"_I don't want to be rude sir, but I'm not sure what you're doing here and I don't feel much like talking." Thomas said without turning to the unknown guest._

_In response the man just gave me a look of understanding before he replied. "Sorry about that, my name is Carter Hall. I'm probably better known as Hawkman to most, though if I don't look it, believe me; I'm just not wearing my wings right now. I just wanted to talk is all, you see I think I may have a small inkling how you feel."_

_Thomas scoffed out of instinct at his last remark, "How the hell could you?" It was the only thing he could ask him._

_Hawkman just put his head down and talked in a low and sad voice. "I've lived a long time, more than most on this planet, even though I don't exactly look the part. I'm actually on my 90__th__ lifetime if you can believe that. I was a minor pharaoh in Egypt who had just gotten married to the love of my life. Unfortunately, her ex happened to be sorcerer who now hated both of us and cursed us to be reincarnated every time we die only to live until we fell in love again and died, starting the cycle anew."_

"_Really? Sorcerers and curses? Seems farfetched if you ask me." The depth of sadness in Hall's voice had gotten the younger man's attention, despite his inability to believe him._

"_Says the kid who's from an alternate universe and in a cloned body." Hawkman quickly retorted by outburst before continuing his story, "Needless to say I've known, loved and lost a lot of good people just like you. If you ever want to talk, just call me." He stood up to leave, but paused before reaching the door, "Just remember that eventually it will get easier, just don't ask me how long it took to figure that out on my own."_

* * *

**Present Day**

After reliving the memory Thomas turned back to the computer and re-adjusted the recorder. "I think it's time I get my ass out of this room and go get some food. Oh, and whoever's watching this and probably getting some God forsaken psych profile had better remember that anything I say in here is off limits. If I find out that said information travels farther than you, I will find you and kick your ass." Thomas was about to shut off the monitor before leaving for breakfast, but then laughed heartily and turned back to face the recorder. "Unless you're Batman, then it'll be me getting my ass kicked after stupidly calling you out. Alright, I'm out of here for now." With that, the young universe hopper shut off the computer and found his way down to the kitchen.

H still hadn't interacted much with the other residents of the mountain. Mostly he'd just been given a tour from the Martian girl and seen Superboy chilling on the couch in front of the TV watching nothing but static. Red Arrow dropped by with the clothes Thomas had requested and mentioned that things would be quiet around here until the League got things sorted out.

Thankfully, the archer had brought Thomas's Iowa baseball hat. In a new world, it was nice to have something familiar. In his old life, he'd worn that hat 300 days out of the year without fail. It got the point that some people at college wouldn't recognize him in the halls without the on his head. He'd also appeared out of the teleporter in Star City with his Wartburg Student Senate black zip-up fleece that he wore constantly during the colder months and early spring. In fact, he wore it so much that the black was beginning to fade a little from being outside and washed so many times. These two things were like pieces of his identity now, as they were the only things that had made it through to the other side with him.

The clothes had nothing on his last true treasure though. In his fleece pocket Thomas had been carrying around his Sony MP3 Player. The music wasn't the issue here; it was actually the pictures on the player that Thomas had synced from his computer. It had videos of his brother running track and pictures of their last family get together, including his little red-headed cousin Braden that always wanted to play tractors when their families got together. _Only three and already a farm kid, just like Uncle Kevin, _Thomas thought as he flipped through the pictures while walking down the sparse hallways of Mount Justice. A memory of giving the kid piggy back rides on the 4th of July sparked a laugh from Thomas.

* * *

M'gann was attempting to cook some pancakes in the kitchen, but was failing miserably as scorched batter was caked to the griddle and the powder from the bag was littered around the stove like a small beach ringing around an island. She herself was covered in batter which clashed violently with her green Martian skin. While trying to figure out what the heck caused the mess, she all of a sudden heard a short laugh from someone she didn't recognize. She looked up just in time to see Thomas walk into the kitchen. _Hello Megan!_ She said, hitting her head with her hand, _of course, it's just Thomas._ Seeing that he hadn't noticed her yet, she went over to him.

"Hi Thomas, sorry about the mess. I'd tried making pancakes, but it didn't go too well. Other than that, the kitchen is all yours."

Thomas peered around the Martian and his eyes widened at the sight before him. _How can someone screw up this bad in a kitchen?_ Trying to break the growing awkward silence between them, he thought maybe he should try to get to know his fellow residents a little.

"Uh, Megan, has anyone ever actually taught you how to cook?"

Megan looked sheepishly at the ground. "Not really, I really like doing it though and no one really complains about the food so it can't be that bad. Wally particularly likes my cooking."

Thomas chose his next words with precision. "He's the speedster right?" Seeing Megan nod, he continued. "Well, if it's all the same to you, how about we clean this up. I've got a killer French toast recipe from home that I'll think you'll really enjoy. Plus, it's nearly guaranteed not to blow up in your face."

"Thanks Thomas, I'll go tell Conner." Megan quickly flew off to her boyfriend while Thomas looked around for the towels.

An hour later, the kitchen was spotless and the Kryptonian clone, the Martian, and the man from another universe were sitting around the kitchen island chowing down on some good ol' fashioned French toast.

"This is pretty good, what did you put in it?" Conner spoke hesitantly to the stranger, having only spoke once to him over the past two weeks. The clone sensed the man wanted to be left alone, and he could more than sympathize. Bats told them that he'd been through some emotional stuff, so Conner decided it would be best to let it go.

Thomas quickly scarfed down the last bite of his breakfast and took a sip of orange juice before answering. "Well, I start with cook-and-serve French vanilla pudding; throw in the cinnamon and brown sugar and soak the Texas toast. Griddle it up to perfection and it's heaven on a plate. It's really quite simple, I'll write it down for Megan to try making. Though maybe I should supervise the kitchen next time."

Megan perked up noticeably at the prospect of learning how to cook something new, she just knew she had to ask. "Where did you learn how to cook like this?"

"I learned mostly from my mom and two sisters. They're all great cooks, so you can't help but pick up a few things even if you are a guy. Truth be told, breakfast is my forte. Biscuits and gravy, country fried steak, pancakes, sausage links, bacon, you name it and I can rock it." As the group went back to eating Thomas let the silence drift over him before sighing deeply and adding one last comment to the conversation. "Sorry I haven't been the greatest neighbor the past two weeks. I've been through a lot of crap lately and I really appreciate the space." With that he turned to leave the table and head toward the TV.

Conner finished his second helping and look over as Thomas left. T_hat was pretty good, _he thought. As he looked back toward Megan, he heard Thomas stop and turn around on the spot.

"Hey Conner, any place I can shoot some hoops in here? I've been feeling pretty cooped up."

Conner thought for a brief second before answering. "Yeah I'll show you. If you're looking for a partner, I won't be of much help though, not quite sure how to play."

Thomas smiled immediately. "Not a problem man, but if you want to learn I have coached it before. I'd certainly like to repay for leaving me be the past few days."

While he didn't show in the on the outside, Conner inwardly felt glad at that moment. Usually, he felt like that when someone on the team or Canary showed him something new and he couldn't wait to learn how to actually play a sport. It was one of those things he hadn't had anyone teach to him.

* * *

As the two boys ran off towards the courts, Batman watched the videos feeds from the Batcave in Gotham City. He called up the signals for Aquaman, Green Arrow and Flash, giving them an identical message.

"The cave is back open, your protégés may re-enter at the own leisure."

* * *

**Please review!**


	5. Integration

**Disclaimer: I don't own AC/DC's Back in Black nor Young Justice or any DC affiliated characters.**

* * *

**April 16****th  
****Mount Justice  
****4:00 p.m.****  
**

After Batman had called his fellow Leaguers, it didn't take long for the young heroes to return to their home away from home-Mount Justice. While Happy Harbor High School had the day off, the rest of the team had school and it wasn't until four in the afternoon that the computer rang out:

_Recognized Robin B01, Kid Flash B02, Artemis B07._

As they stepped from the zeta tubes, KF's stomach grumbled quite loudly. "I really hope M'gann cooked something today, I'm starving!"

Artemis and Robin shared a knowing look about the speedster's high metabolism, but the blonde archer couldn't help herself. "Really Kid Mouth? Two weeks without seeing your friends and the first words out of your mouth are 'I'm hungry'?"

Robin just hung his head low and snickered to himself. Even two weeks away from each other hadn't cooled their heads. The frustrating part for Batman's partner was that even he, KF's best friend, couldn't get it through to the red-haired speedster that he needed to sack up and ask her out already. Sure, they'd all seen their kiss on New Year's, but that had been followed by months of awkward tension between the two. Dick knew that his fellow teammates felt the exact same way. While Robin was thinking to himself, and trying to stay out of the line of fire, the trio had strolled into the kitchen to see a familiar sight. M'gann had just opened the oven telepathically due to her issues with heat and removed the cookie sheet and placed it on the top of the stove.

After hearing voices, M'gann looked up, "Hi everyone!" She quickly flew over and hugged each of her teammates. "It's been so long since I've seen any of you. Canary called earlier and said that you were allowed back in so I made chocolate chip cookies!"

At the last remark Wally hastily sped toward the stove and swiped half the sheet of cookies and shoveled them into his mouth. He stopped suddenly and his eyes widened as though he was in pain.

"Forget something there, Baywatch?" Artemis had a playful smeared across her face as Wally began to redden in the face and tears welled up. In the blink of an eye, the fridge flew open and Wally downed half a gallon of milk.

"Next time, someone remind me that cookies are hot after getting out of oven!"

The four teens shared a quick laugh at the speedster's expense before they picked up on the sound of what they assumed was Superboy fighting an unknown individual. Robin was the first to speak.

"That's Superboy, I'd know his voice anywhere, but I don't know the other one. It's not Kal, that's for sure."

All four ran towards the training room, readying themselves for a fight that they were sure they were running into. KF stopped as he'd ran ahead of the team, waiting for them to catch up. As they neared KF, they heard him shout back to them.

"I hope Supey didn't snap on Superman or something. They'll probably bring the mountain down!"

They regrouped at the entrance before entering swiftly as a team. They definitely weren't prepared for the sight that greeted them. Connor, the Boy of Steel, was actually playing basketball with an unknown stranger. They were playing quite physically and it was tied 10-10 according to the mountains computer scoreboard. As far as the team knew, Connor had never played any sports, considering he was still having trouble with strength regulation during high stress situations. While that was odd in and of itself, the most shocking thing was easily the fact that Connor looked like he was actually having a good time. They watched as he checked the ball with his opponent and put the ball in play by charging fully ahead down the lane.

"Dude, when did Connor get good at basketball?" Wally looked incredulously at the two ballers on the floor.

Artemis couldn't help but wonder the same thing. "Yeah, he's seriously looking pretty smooth out there."

Robin just looked at his teammates in frustration. "Really? No concern at all about some unknown guy in what's essentially our house? M'gann, you want to fill us in?"

Megan had assumed that the team knew about Thomas, but she obliged Robin's request, "His name's Thomas, and he's been staying here for the past two weeks. That's all Batman told me when he showed up. Since me and Connor don't have a home, we've seen him around since we live here too. He's mostly kept to himself until today. Lost his family from what I gathered."

Robin's eyes widened in recognition. "So that's who the League was talking about." Robin noticed his team looking at him in a WTF? sort of way so he continued. "Oh I got caught by Batman while listening to a League briefing about some guy who'd been turned into a kind of super soldier or something. That's all I found out before I got kicked out. Bats found my listening device and shut it off right away after I went to the Batcave."

A yell from Superboy brought the team out of their conversation and refocused them on the game in front of them. Somehow, the new guy had been able to keep Superboy from scoring and even managed to get the ball back.

With the ball behind the three point line, Thomas just picked up the ball and smirked at Superboy.

Robin saw what would happen before it did so he yelled to his teammate to spur him into action, "Superboy, get on him!"

The three point shot sailed straight through the net. Thomas ran his hands over his waist like he was showing off a championship belt.

"That's game, son!" On his way back from collecting the ball, Thomas slapped Connor on the back, "Nice game man, damn near had that one." While the two walked of the court Robin and the rest of the teens decided that they wouldn't be interrupting anymore and joined Connor and the new kid. Thomas grabbed a swig of water before sitting down on the bench on the side of the room next to the team of friends. He smiled outwardly as he heard the team talk to Connor about the game.

"Dude, we thought you were killing someone when you we heard you yelling. We came in here expecting a fight or something!" KF was a little confused as to the whole situation and didn't get to question Connor before the super clone told everyone what was going on.

"After breakfast, Thomas wanted to play basketball. He said he would teach me and I guess I'm pretty natural at it. I'd seen the sport played before through the Cadmus imprinting, as sports are an integral part of American society, so I knew the basics of it already. Then Thomas wanted to really get into it and play some one-on-one. That was four hours ago and we've so far played about 12 games."

The group jumped as Thomas walked over the join the conversation. "Yeah and the guy damn near beat me that last one."

Robin looked up at his friend and echoed Thomas's sentiments. "Yeah, you were looking pretty astrous out there Supey."

Thomas looked at the 13 year old quizzically. "Astrous?"

The Boy Wonder responded nonchalantly. "Yea, if disastrous is awful, just take off the dis and you get astrous meaning awesome."

Thomas just simply nodded at the explanation. "Nice, I'm definitely adding that to my repertoire. So word play's something you guys do?"

KF jumped on that one. "Well, it's only Robin that takes care of that one. He's got a lot of them, so try not to get to confused."

"Oh I don't mind, I actually kind of like it." Thomas quickly bent down the pick up the worn Wilson basketball and slapped it hard with his left hand. "So anybody up for a game?"

"Dude, how do you have the energy for another game?" Kid Flash was sure the new guy would have been tired by now. "Didn't you just go for four hours with Supey?"

"Yeah, but I don't know. I still feel like I'm good to go. I'm still trying to figure out everything I can do and it seems either I'm just really in shape or I at the very least I don't really produce lactic acid in my muscles. If that's the case, it's kind of awesome. No more sore muscles from workouts!" Thomas looked at the young team, who were still trying to come to terms with the fact that what Robin said earlier was indeed fact. Trying to ease the awkwardness his statement caused, he asked the group. "So if no one wants to hoop it up then what do you want to do? I'm tired of being bored off my ass sitting in my room."

The red head spoke first. "Well, Rob and I were going to play some Halo, care to join?"

Thomas froze and slowly turned to the group who thought maybe Wally had unknowingly pissed off the new guy. The group hadn't been prepared for the outburst that awaited them. "You guys have an XBOX? Why the hell didn't anyone say that earlier? Hell yeah man, let's go kick some ass!" Wally and Robin just grinned and walked with Thomas towards the living room and booted up the XBOX.

Along the way Thomas had thought to himself about this new piece of information. _I wonder how different this universe really is? So far they've got basketball and XBOX including Halo. What else is the same? This is so confusing and I can't even tell them anything or Batman will kill me!_ After a few rounds of on-line play Thomas got the chance to find out more about his new world.

"Hey you guys got an IPod or something? I feel like some tunes are in order." Robin quickly tossed him his Ipod and while the young hero went back to killing someone playing in China. Thomas scrolled through the various tracks. What he found greatly disappointed him. "Really man, Bieber? Rihanna? Adele? I'm disappointed in you young man. You both wait here and I'll get some real music."

_Alright so at least the modern music appears to be the same in both. I wonder if they've ever even heard of some the bands on my MP3 player. It won't be a good test though, as they're probably too young to even have known the bands that I like._ Thomas quickly flicked on his player and hooked it up to the surround sound system. He turned to the two teens and in dramatic fashion announced his choice of music. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I now present to you the musical magic of the one and only…AC/DC!" The screaming guitar rang out across the mountain accompanied by the unique vocals of their singer:

"_Back in black, I hit the sack. I've been too long, I'm glad to back. Yes I'm let loose, from the noose that's kept me hangin' around…._

KF didn't look too enthused by the music selection. "Eh, it's alright. What else you got?"

KF's statement simple enraged Thomas who quickly rounded on the ginger speedster. "Alright!? Back in Black is never just alright!" Frustrated and feeling mischievous Thomas turned back to his player. _Well if classic rock is just 'alright' to the little shits then let's see how much country pisses of 'em off!_

* * *

Unnoticed by any of the team, the computer had announced the arrival of several league members, included the mentors of the young heroes in training. No one heard them because the sound system was too loudly playing "Back in Black" by AC/DC. After exiting the zeta tubes, the older heroes were confused as to the source of the blaring music and went to investigate. Of course, they knew the likely subjects were KF or Robin, so they headed to the living room first.

They entered the room to see the new kid nearly pulling out his hair as Wally brushed off the awesomeness of AC/DC. They were unprepared, however, for the sound that filled their ears next. Many simple put their hands over their ears as the sound of a banjo rang across the room, though Batman just stood there without so much as a flinch because 1) Clark pulls this shit all the time in the Batcave and 2) He's the goddamn Batman. The only two in the room not trying to go for the speakers to shut them off were Superman and Thomas, both of who were air guitaring to Rascal Flatt's "Banjo". Flash, of course, was the first to get to the stereo and unplug the purple Sony MP3 player. It would have been quicker, but there were a lot of things to go through. The kids had messed with the system and screwed it all up as it was now their 'base' now, not the Leagues' as Wally so often reminded him at home. With a sudden stop, the room was eerily quiet as both Superman and Thomas turned quickly towards the Flash with a "Seriously?" kind of expression.

"How can you listen to that crap?" The junior speedster was not liking the country one bit.

Thomas beat Supes to the rebuttal. "It's music with actual instruments, not auto-tune. And what's your music about? Doing drugs and treating women like crap? Sorry, I'll stick with my musical selection, thank you very much."

"Enough!" Batman had had quite enough of the verbal feces being flung around the room. "We came here to fill Thomas in on the situation. The League has come to a decision regarding his residence here at the cave. Starting tomorrow you'll be training for being a member of this team, only if you wish to. You're training will include a rigorous education program as well as solo training with several League members to determine your abilities and their limits. Report to the training room at 0800 tomorrow morning." After saying what needed to be said he flicked his cape behind him and exited the room with the other Leaguers following suit.

Robin and Kid Flash had watched the whole exchange take place and were dumbfounded at what they just heard Batman say. Robin saw the subdued shock on Thomas's face and went over to him.

"Don't worry about Bats, man, you get used to him. I suppose a welcome to the team speech will come later, but good luck tomorrow."


	6. Training Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

* * *

**April 17****th  
****Mount Justice  
****7:30 a.m.****  
**

"Dude, you get to be a hero! How cool is that?"

Wally's excited voice rang through Thomas's mind as he slowly got dressed. Yesterday, Batman had told him that he'd be starting training this morning, though he wasn't sure how he felt about it. One hand, he was extremely psyched to finally do something and actually see what he could do. The other side of the coin, though, is that with every step he took to integrate himself in this universe, he was stepping away from his life that he loved in another.

He went with some faded blue jeans that had been bought for him, along with a pair of white and black Nike's. He wanted something meant for training, so he chose a black dri-fit T to don his torso. He still wasn't sure why Batman had granted him permission to train, but he didn't know the debate his presence had caused for the League. In addition to all this craziness, he had to figure out how to handle knowing nearly all the facts about this world. Plus, he still hadn't dealt with the question of if this was indeed real or if it was some vivid dream.

* * *

**April 5****th  
****Watchtower  
****Justice League briefing****  
**

"His presence signals that our enemies have capabilities our intel completely missed." Wonder Woman cut to the chase after the meeting had gotten side-tracked yet again because of the two GLs refusal to allow Guy Gardner to join in even an ancillary capacity. The League could use the help in crisis situations, but she agreed with Hal on the matter. Guy was, to use Hal's terms "a giant douche."

Martian Manhunter nodded in agreement with his long-time friend and colleague. "Agreed, this is indeed foreboding for the future. If we did not know something like this was possible, what else might be lurking in the shadows?"

"Says the guy who hid his people's genetic experiments from the entirety of humanity." Flash was still a little peeved from Manhunter's little reveal at the old League base a few days ago. "Sorry J'onn, but keeping from us was not cool."

"I, for one, do not blame our Martian friend." Aquaman's calm demeanor helped to keep things from boiling over. "Seeing how people reacted when they first found out that there were super powered beings in their own oceans, I cannot imagine how they would react to hearing aliens tampered with their DNA millennia upon millennia ago. J'onn can do nothing about the past. It is not wise to assign him blame."

Manhunter thought deeply for a moment and his Martian equivalent of a brow furrowed. "Thank you Aquaman, but Flash is correct. I should have shared this revelation with the team when I arrived on Earth." A chorus of "Damn straights!" and a wave of head nods went around the cavernous meeting room aboard the Watchtower.

After things settle down J'onn continued. "With that out of the way, I'd like us to get back on point. I do not wish our misgivings about the situation to taint our treatment of the boy. He has been through much and lost a great deal. Treating him as an enemy would be unnecessary. With his permission, I scanned his mind to the center of his self. There is no mental control present and it appears there never was. Whoever released him removed the memories of his ordeal likely as an act of mercy. It is my estimation that he poses no threat to the team or the public, though as a caution we should keep him under surveillance. His genetic changes are still manifesting and I am unsure what changes will occur."

The members of the League sat in silent reflection for a moment before their unofficial leader, Batman, stood up. "Thomas appears to already possess a healing ability and increased strength, though we will test to what extent. Other abilities may yet manifest over time as our data shows his cloned body is still maturing. Over the next week or so we will do more testing on his genome and meeting with Thomas in private session to complete a psychological evaluation and discuss his future."

The other member of the "Trinity" spoke up now to voice his concerns. "About his future, can we send him home?"

The Dark Knight addressed the Kryptonian rather than the whole assembly. "As of right now I have Ted Kord working on a way to cross universes, but unless we find the tech that brought him here, I doubt we can do so safely. I will not risk degrading the universal boundaries for one child's wellbeing."

Superman balked at the last statement. "Should really be so cavalier about this kid's life?"

A brief snarl crossed the Caped Crusaders face, nearly all of the League missed. Superman knew his friend well enough to catch the facial twitch before Batman regained his composure. "Says the Boy Scout that all but ignored the child that is essentially his son. Do not tell me how to handle the boy; you've got your own problems to worry about."

With the verbal sparring escalating between the two founding League members, most jaws dropped at Batman's last statement. Not many called out Superman like that, but Batman was one of the few who could really stick it to the Big Blue Boy Scout.

Hawkman, known to his non-hero friends as Carter Hall, watched to exchange with sadness. They were going to make the a boy to leave his world behind and all the people he loved with it. No one had really even thought of that as the two veterans had a pissing contest about Superboy. He and Sheyera shared a look of understanding. They'd both lost much over their many lives together, in fact, if it wasn't for the League members watching their back, they would probably have died a few years ago and already been re-incarnated. Glancing back at Batman and Superman, the gold clad hero stood and smacked his mace on the table in front of him like a gavel. _Well that shut them up real damn quick, _he thought before saying what he felt was necessary.

"Someone's got to tell that kid what's what. I, for one, volunteer to try to help him get through this, and maybe find a life here in a world he's brand new to. You know my qualifications on the matter."

There was a lot of hand-wringing around the room as the members of the Justice League realized how hard the situation would be for the young man in question. They also knew that Carter was the choice to help the kid, given how many lives he'd lived and people he'd lost, not to mention losing his wife every single time they went through the cycle. If anyone on the team understood loss, it was him.

Batman surveyed the room, "It's settled then. We'll test the boy and possibly begin training him when we better understand the situation. Target date for training will be two weeks. We'll need volunteers to test his abilities, human members of the League are discourage from attempting to help, as he needs to learn to control what he can do. We'll converse over comms later about the matter, dismissed."

* * *

**April 17****th  
****Mount Justice  
****7:45 a.m.****  
**

Thomas walked slowly down the hall towards the training room. Memories of the psych evals from Manhunter and questioning that Batman had done flashed back through his head. He'd been told that the possibility of going home wasn't likely, though the Leauge was highly prioritizing the situation.

_Apparently having people out there capable of hopping universes was a big deal. _He smiled wryly at the thought. He kind of quit caring about, well, everything after he'd found out about being stuck in this world where everyone he'd ever known was gone. Hawkman paid him that visit a few days ago, which thankfully brought him out of the shell-shock he was in, and he'd actually introduced himself properly to Megan and Connor, the other permanent residents of the cave. He, KF, and Robin hit it off last night over some quality Halo action so things were looking up. _It just doesn't help me feel any less nervous about this whole 'training' thing though._

The doors to the room opened in front of him and he took in the sight of the training room with the huge pad in the middle of the floor. _What the hell is that for?_ He walked around the room taking in the strangeness of it before remembering the task at hand. _I probably should stretch or something, wouldn't want to pull a muscle right when I start._ He didn't realize that there was no need; his new body was almost always ready to go at a moment's notice. Just one of the perks of being a more evolved human being.

"You just going to stand there and watch or you going to come in?" Thomas hand been stretching with his back to the door, but he'd heard someone enter. He turned to see Batman and a young black man with blonde hair and some rather intriguing tattoos running from his back and down his arms. The kid in question was wearing his normal uniform. Thomas knew from his information that the young man was Aqualad, but didn't say anything about that until he was introduced by Batman.

Batman was impressed with Thomas's situational awareness, though he wouldn't tell him that. "This is Kaldur'ahm, also known as Aqualad. He'll be your initial sparring partner. I want to see what you can do."

Thomas was actually shocked. "You're throwing another kid in here? I don't even know my own powers, how can you expect anything good from this?"

Batman's eyes narrowed. "In addition to reading your powers this fight will also serve as training for Aqualad. Fighting against the unknown is often asked of heroes, and gaining experience in a controlled setting is quite hard to come by, so I want him to give it a try." What Batman didn't add was that he was fairly certain that their strength was evenly matched based on the tests done previously on Thomas throughout the past two weeks.

Young Justice's leader gave a nod to Batman and stepped on to the pad and Thomas followed his lead. The Atlantean nodded to his opponent as a sign of respect. "I will try to go easy on you, my friend."

Thomas was caught off guard by the whole situation. _Was that kid joking? Pretty dry sense of humor if you ask me._ Steeling himself for the fight he nodded back. "Bring it, pretty boy." At that, two gladiators went at it. Aqualad was without his water-bearers, for this fight as it was strictly a hand-to-hand exercise. A quick blow from Aqualad to Thomas's gut lifted him from the ground, though he managed to stay on his feet and keep the fight alive.

After gauging Aqualad's speed, Thomas was able to block his next series of attacks and started trying to hit back, knowing that he couldn't really hurt his opponent given his Atlantean heritage. The shock was evident on Kaldur's face when Thomas caught one his right hooks and got a few shots in to his abdomen. That was as far as the fight got though, as Aqualad swiftly recovered and spun low to the ground, his legs catching Thomas in the back of the legs and putting him on his back. The computer rang out: _FAIL._

Aqualad sprung back up and helped Thomas to his feet. "You fought well for the first time and lasted longer than I expected."

"Not sure if that's a compliment on my ability or an insult as to how bad I must have looked beforehand."

Batman watched the leader of the team talking with the new resident of the cave. Thomas showed potential, though he'd need a lot more training to be ready for any thought to be entertained about him joining missions.

He knew Thomas had come from a world where this world was a form of entertainment. Thomas had sworn himself to secrecy on the matter and would conduct himself as though he'd never even heard of any of this. Manhunter had refused to remove all the information from his mind, given that any further mental tampering could do too much damage and removing that small of detail could have unforeseen consequences. That said, knowing what he knows probably helped Thomas last longer than that first punch from Aqualad.

The brooding bat stepped forward to address the two boys. "For a first attempt, it could have gone better." The kid didn't need to get a big ahead from exceeding expectations. "Kaldur, you are dismissed. Thomas, we will begin with some basic techniques against computer generated opponents. Make no mistake, it will be hard work and will take weeks, if not longer, before the right level of proficiency is reached to join the team. You told me in our sessions that if you were indeed stuck here, that was your wish. If that is still the case, we better get started."

Taking his leave of Batman, Kaldur addressed his new friend. "It was nice meeting you, Thomas. I wish you luck in your training, we could always use more people to help on missions and I would rather like having someone my own age on the team."

"Same to you Kaldur, though how about you not mention to the guys that you kicked my ass. Wouldn't want them thinking I'm a pushover right off the bat. Going to have enough trouble dealing with Batman without that hanging over my head."

Kaldur thankfully caught the joke. "Not to worry my friend, I will keep it on the 'DL'." He overly emphasized the air quotes around 'DL' which drew a laugh from Thomas.

"See you later Kaldur, and try to keep some ice handy, got a feeling I'll need it later."

Kaldur and turned to leave before turning back to let Thomas know that he had heard him. "Certainly, I will see you later then."

* * *

Kaldur walked into the living room just as the team was starting Transformers 3 on the big screen. Wally saw their leader entered and quickly asked how the new guy had fared.

"He fought well for a first timer, better than I expected. Batman and the League will have him up to speed in no time, I am sure."

The girls all groaned at the prospect of having yet another male member of the team, but everyone quieted down once the movie got going.


	7. Trial by Fire

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

* * *

**May 1****st  
****Mount Justice briefing room  
****8:30 pm****  
**

"Holy shit what a shitty birthday."

Thomas had been training non-stop for the last two weeks with various members of the League and Young Justice. It had proven to be a hard and grueling task, even for a guy who had accelerated healing and metabolism. Each day he'd come back from the training room with fresh bruises and collapse on the couch after grabbing the ice packs from the fridge. Being a baseball coach in his former life Thomas had gained a basic working knowledge about first aid and how to deal with minor injuries like the ones he'd often sustain from training. Today was no different. Due to his accelerated healing, which was just under KF's level, Thomas could fight several prolonged battles each day, provided he got a few breaks for water and food. Normally, he'd fight a few of the team members who were around before finishing with Black Canary and getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter. The latter part wasn't all that different today, but he didn't fight any of the kids today. Throughout the day, he'd fought Flash, Black Canary, Hawkman, and Batman himself in that order. Hawkman went wingless for the fight and it gave Thomas a chance to practice his weapon skills.

When he started training with weapons after becoming proficient at hand-to-hand, Batman had asked him what he felt like using given that fact that without a weapon of some kind, he was liable to get it handed to him in a fight as he was only human, despite his enhancements. Batman had given Thomas the day off to rest and think about his weapon choices, so he talked to only human member on the team still hanging around the cave that Saturday, Robin. Between the two of them, they had come up with a sweet design. It was essentially a high school aluminum baseball bat; though Thomas had originally thought about going with a sword, he didn't think a lethal weapon would be accepted by Bats. It was no ordinary bat; however, as it was made out of unweaponized Promethium, the strongest metal known to the League, it was even used in Cyborg's armor. The gold and silver bat also had a zip line nestled in the 2 and ¾ inch barrel and it functioned as a Taser on the end for subduing the baddies.

While most of the Leaguers Thomas trained with thought the bat was an odd choice, he impressed many of them with his ability to use it in combat situations. Whether it was swinging it like a club for maximum force or more precise jabs, he was able to effectively beat several League members with the weapon. Having enhanced strength had given him excellent control over the weapon. With his rising skill, it was decided that he would complete a few live observations of the team on a mission before fully joining the team.

Wally interrupted Thomas's train of thought as he plopped into the chair on the left of the couch at Thomas's feet. "Dude, don't you need to go to school or something."

Most of the team didn't know Thomas's story, but he was thankful that at least Robin knew most of the facts. He didn't need to go to school because he'd already almost finished college in his timeline and he'd re-learned the basic geography and history in his downtime. Increased memory retention and intelligence were apparently one of the perks of being a more evolved human. "Nah man, already finished."

"How?"

"I'm just that awesome, I guess."

Artemis, newly arrived from the kitchen joined the conversation. "Conceited much?"

"Jealous much?" Thomas quickly retorted before getting up to retreat to his room.

"One comeback and you're running away?" The blonde archer stood behind the couch with her arms crossed.

"Nope, just leaving before you and Wally start your shit. Seriously, how the team put up with it for this long is beyond me."

As the young female left the room in a huff, Thomas turned to Wally, who had been quite taken aback by Thomas's forwardness on the matter. "Dude, you need to grow a pair and fucking ask her out already. Wait too long and she'll be gone, trust me. I missed my shot and I won't be getting another one."

Thomas left a speechless Wally in the living room as he walked toward his room. What he didn't tell Wally was that he'd missed his shot with someone he cared deeply about because he'd been too big a pussy to say anything for the years that he'd known her. Now he was stuck in this world where she didn't exist and bringing it up to the junior speedster only served to drudge up the painful memories that he'd been hoping to lay to rest.

As he reached his door Batman's voice rang throughout the base, "Team, suit up and report to briefing room in 15." Hearing the orders, Thomas walked to his closet and opened up the space he'd had installed for his suit. He really liked how it had turned out, though it hadn't been combat tested quite yet. He had based the design off of a few suit designs that Robin had stored away for when he got older. It was a stealth black Kevlar combat suit, much like Batman's suit without the cape. Instead of the blue trim from the design he'd included gold as a highlight, which was fitting his codename was Hawkeye for the Iowa Haweyes, whose team colors are black and gold. The suit included a detachable utility belt and the baseball bat attached to the back. Thomas favored a domino mask like Robin's but modified his to include various vision modes. _Yeah, pretty bad ass if I do say so myself, which I am._

* * *

"Your mission is located in Zandia. For those unfamiliar, it is a country governed by a ruthless dictator and is generally known as a safe haven for criminals around the world. Essentially, you will be dropping behind enemy lines. Your target is a manufacturing plant that we believe may be used by Cadmus to recreate the Cobra-Venom formula. You are to do reconnaissance _only_ and report back to the League on the situation. Thomas will observe from the bio-ship while Artemis will stay on-board as well to pilot in case an emergency evac is necessary. You will board the bio-ship and depart in 20 minutes. Good luck."

20 minutes later the team was aboard the bio-ship. It was a little more cramped than usual, given that there was now 7 people on board, but there still a little room to spare. With the ship at full speed, it took the team 1-and-a-half hours to reach the isolated nation of Zandia. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash secured their ropes and exited the ship followed by the flight capable Miss Martian and Superboy who landed effortlessly on the ground with so much as a small tremor to mark his presence. Artemis couldn't help but make a crack about Supey with him off ship.

"At least he finally figured that problem out."

Both she and the new guy were now alone in the ship, waiting for any action that might come their way. Thomas was fairly curious to see how this mission played out, given how the all the mission files he'd been reading always ended up with the team in hot water, no matter how small the mission. He didn't have to wait long for the trouble to start.

"So Artemis, how's life?" Thomas was bored with the mission so far as he watched the bio-ships camera feed.

"Oh you know, the usual; finals week, taking out some Cadmus facility in enemy territory, and trying to catch up on Justified. So all in all pretty solid." Thomas just chuckled as Artemis rattled off her response. The last few days Thomas had been introducing the team to the awesomeness of Justified and he was quite thankful that it existed in all its glory in this universe as well.

"See, aren't you glad I watched it the other night?" Before Artemis could respond, a large explosion rocked the area. Both stared out the view screen to survey the damage. A large portion of the plant had been blown sky high. Artemis quickly opened the hatch without a word and prepped to leave.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"To help genius, what did you think I was doing? Stay here and we'll be back."

"Who the hell is supposed to be flying this thing?"

He never got a response as the green clad archer had left the ship to help her team. Right about now, Thomas was wondering what the hell he was supposed to do given how fast things had gone south.

"Why is it never simple recon with these guys?"

* * *

The explosion had decimated the team. Aqualad and Robin had been knocked out from the concussion of the blast wave and M'gann was woozy from dealing with the heat. Kid Flash was attending to Robin when Artemis arrived on the scene.

"What the hell happened, Baywatch?"

"I don't know; we were surveying the area when the roof under Superboy collapsed. None of our intel suggested gas was a by-product of the manufacturing, but something sparked during the collapse and set off the explosion." Kid Flash was clearly exasperated by the series of events that had spiraled out of control.

"What's the situation?" Thomas had figured out his comm finally and had cut into the conversation.

Artemis was first to respond, "Robin and Aqualad are down, Superboy is checking the bad guys to see if they're alive and Miss Martian likely has a concussion and can't link us up. KF is helping me get Robin and Aqualad ready for extraction."

"So tell me how to fly this thing and I'll come get you."

"Ok, you put your hands on the two orbs and think how you want the ship to fly."

"Alright sounds easy enough, see you in a few."

Cutting the comm, Thomas moved to the center chair and began attempting to fly the ship. After dipping onto a few rooftops, Thomas finally righted the ship and got nearly into position when things went from bad to worse for the young team. The explosion apparently caught the attention of the front guards.

_Big surprise there_, Thomas thought as he watched them stream in through the door on the lone standing wall. The bigger shock was the hulking creature that busted through the door after the guards. _Fuck._

As Thomas watched Artemis and KF take on the human guards, he couldn't help be a little anxious about the whole situation. When Superboy was thrown out of building by the creature, he finally got his shit together. As he got up, telling the ship to hold position, he quickly muttered to himself as the hatched swirled open, "Well Batman, sorry to fail at my one assignment on my first mission." With that, he grabbed his line and jumped out of the ship and into the fray below.

The creature looked a hell of a lot bigger on the ground than it had in the ship, but Thomas never was one for backing down. Though he certainly hoped he didn't have to bust his new ability during the fight. With members of the team being highly susceptible to its effects, he didn't want to use it until he had full control of it. As the creature turned towards him Thomas quickly unhooked his bat from his back and got into a fighting stance. Ducking under the changing behemoth, Thomas went through its legs before standing up on the other side and taking a swipe at its left knee. The blow successfully staggered his opponent but he hadn't anticipated a quick backhand than disarmed him and threw him a dozen feet or so into the wall behind him.

The blow had been softer than expected, so Thomas recovered quickly in time to see Superboy re-enter the fight. Thomas pulled his combat wire from his left wrist holster and held it taught between both hands. As he ran towards the creature he yelled an order at Superboy.

"Take his legs!"

The first time hero jumped over the head of the creature, but managed to get the wire around its neck as Superboy took the creature out behind its legs. Once it was on the ground Superboy went to town on the creatures face until it quit fighting back. Superboy had stopped punching the creature and stood up to face Thomas, but he never thought that the creature would have been smart enough to play dead. A quick punch sent Superboy flying into the as he was unprepared for the blow. Thomas tried to his the creature with his bat, but it was knocked sideways and he was sent into the wall again. This time though, he got the full force and easily broke his right forearm while trying stupidly to brace himself from the impact.

_Well, I guess it's now or never_. As he gritted through the pain, Thomas decided now was as good a time as any to unleash his new power he discovered a few days ago. Summoning a fireball in his left hand he threw his arm forward toward the creature letting loose a torrent of white hot flame. The beast attempted to reach Thomas through the wall of fire but eventually could not withstand the heat and fell over, near death. Given how a blow from Superboy right to the face didn't even slow it down, it was highly doubtful that the creature was in fact dead.

With that conflict over, Thomas reclaimed his bat from the ground and went to help Artemis and Kid Flash finish off the rest of the guards while Superboy went to guard their three downed teammates. Seeing the two heroes nearly finished with their side of the fight, Thomas still felt it was necessary to jump in. He jumped over the two heroes with ease and landed in front of the last enemy. Instead of a hard punch or baseball swing Thomas just smirked at the guard,

"Clear!" He then proceeded to jab the guard in the gut with the bat while activating the Taser feature and shocking his opponent into submission. Once the guard was dealt with he turned to the group as they tended to the wounded. M'gann had finally come around enough to call the bio-ship down to the team and they boarded in a hurry.

Artemis was the first to speak after they were on their way back to the Cave, "So who's going to tell Batman?"

"I nominate the new guy!" Wally was all too eager to dump the blame on the new kid.

"Wow, so I guess a 'thank you' is too much to ask for?"


	8. New Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

* * *

_The mission definitely hadn't gone as planned and the team was left battered and bruised. Robin and Kaldur had been rendered unconscious and M'gann definitely had a concussion. Artemis was piloting the ship while Wally was nursing a knee injury. Thomas, for his part, had pinned his broken arm to his body to reduce the movement. Superboy was, well, Superboy, so no damage done there. _

_Wally was the first to try and crack a smile with a serious question he masked as a joke, "So who's going to tell Batman?" _

* * *

**May 2****nd  
****1:30 a.m.****  
**

A few hours later the bio-ship touched down in the launch bay at Mount Justice. As the cavernous doors closed behind them, Thomas and Superboy went over to their still unconscious comrades and readied to exit the ship. Superboy took the heavier Kaldur while Thomas took the smaller and lighter Robin and threw him over his shoulder which was undamaged, unlike his right forearm. Artemis was helping Wally limp toward the medical bay with his gimpy leg. On the way back from the mission, they'd mostly determined his injury was probably a hairline fracture on his lower leg, but with his speedster healing it wouldn't be too long before he was annoying the crap out of everyone, especially the young archer, again.

As the ship door swung down Batman stood at its feet and watched the team exit and head towards the medical bay. Connor and Thomas were last off the ship and Batman stopped them both, "One of you two is going to tell me what happened before you head to the medical lab." His tone suggested that he wouldn't take no for an answer and Thomas couldn't help but think _When doesn't he sound like that?_

Thomas turned his head to the left toward Connor and gestured toward the acrobat draped over his shoulder, "You wanna take him? I got this." Connor was about to take Robin over the other shoulder before Red Tornado showed up and offered to carry him. Batman and Thomas watched as they headed to the medical ward. When they were gone, the Dark Knight turned towards Thomas.

"Explain to me why half the team is sitting the med bay and why you disobeyed my orders to stay in the ship."

Instead of terrifying the young hero, Batman's statement only served to irritate him. "Well considering for the most part I was sitting the ship with Artemis when it all went down, I'm not sure I'm the one you should be asking about what happened in the beginning. That said, I want to point out that this team has a really hard time getting the whole 'covert' thing down. Every case file I've read so far points to a pattern of a clear lack of patience, but I highly doubt that matters given I'm fairly certain the primary objective was completed. Cadmus was indeed behind the plants manufacturing, though I'm not sure how much solid data Robin could hack before he was attacked. As for the second part of your statement, I left because clearly shit hit the fan and I thought I could help deal with it and get everyone out alive, which I did. Now if you don't mind I'm going to get my arm set so it can heal properly."

Not wanting to push his luck, Thomas passed on bumping shoulders with Batman on his way pass him, but he figured Batman could take the hint regardless. What he didn't know was that while Batman was mad Thomas for his insubordination, he was equally, if not more, impressed with how he handled his first mission with the team.

* * *

A few hours later it was still early morning, but Thomas was in the med bay lying in a bed waiting for the x-rays of his arm to come back. It had already started healing, but RT wanted to be sure that it was doing so correctly and not re-growing at an odd angle. Apparently, things happen with the speedsters of the league and with their accelerated healing it can cause problems. While RT came back and gave Thomas the all clear, he was about to head back to his room when Batman walked into the room. As the two had a mini-stare down at the door threshold, Thomas was the first to break the uneasy silence.

"Sorry for snapping earlier Batman. I should have handled things better. I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"Good, I will expect you to handle things better on missions in the future. You'll be joining on a more permanent basis from now on." Batman gave a curt nod and brushed pass Thomas and walked over the where Robin lay on a separate bed with an IV in his arm and his head wrapped in bandages. While he was having his arm looked at, RT had told him that Robin would be ok, though he would probably be out of commission for a least a week. Most people would take a month, but with the tech the League had and the fact that he was Batman's partner, there was no doubt that the ninja devil would be up and around in no time.

* * *

The next day, Aqualad was released from the medical bay and given a clean bill of health. The Blockbuster creature had been hard to fight by himself and he'd received a hard knock in the back of the head before flying into a steel I-beam before blacking out. Even his Atlantean biology couldn't prevent head trauma from taking him down. As the leader, he knew should he first determine what exactly happened after he was knocked out so he went to speak with the team's newest addition for his perspective on the matter. In the short time they'd known each other, the sea dweller had come to respect Thomas for, as he put it, his knack for cutting through the BS of a situation and just talking straight. He found Thomas sitting on the couch watching an old football game. He'd seemed quite fond of the game, though Kaldur couldn't fathom why he'd want to watch a game from nearly a decade ago.

"My friend, it is good to see you doing well." His calm voice seemed to bring his new teammate out of a trancelike state and back to reality.

"Hey Kal, didn't hear you sneak up on me. How are you feeling?"

"I am well. I should ask you the same question, for you are the one with the arm in a sling." The young Atlantean was puzzled as to why his more seriously injured teammate was asking about his non-existent head wound. Then again, there was much about the new member of the team that perplexed him and the other members. He was the "new guy", as Wally had called him, and was not too keen on sharing information about himself expect little tidbits here and there. So far though, what the team had liked what they had seen.

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a day or so. I'm told my healing ability is getting faster. Having to use it seems to have sparked an increase in its effectiveness. But I guess the time off will give me some time to do something around here except train." Thomas looked from the TV screen right at the leader-in-training. "Oh, and I know you'll want to take the blame for what happened, but let me be the first to tell you what a load of crap that is. You did what you could and took on that creature thing without any backup. If you hadn't it would have easily taken out Robin and KF so don't worry about it." Thomas shifted in his seat to more properly face the tattooed Atlantean and smirked. "Plus I pulled your asses out of the fire, so all's well that ends well."

"You seem to be taking the experience in stride." The use of humor was not something that Kaldur had expected from Thomas, given that he had just been through a pretty harrowing first mission and nearly gotten killed.

Adjusting his Iowa Hawkeye hat on his head Thomas tilted his head and thoughtfully stared up at the cave's ceiling. "Yeah well, I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fucked up. That said, Batman has been training me for a while, and if he said I was ready, who am I to argue? The worst part for me is actually trying to find a way to live in this world."

This statement left Aqualad at a loss for words so he let the silence hang until Thomas's voice picked up again. "I don't know how much Batman told you about where I'm from, but I can tell you that I'm not exactly from around here and I need to find something close to a life outside of being a 'Hero' or I'm going to go crazy."

"What will you do?" Kid Flash had entered the room after hearing the football game on the TV and came to see who was watching. He'd heard the tail end of Thomas's little confession and was genuinely interested in his plans, considering the guy had saved his ass less than a day ago.

"Well there are few things I've been thinking about. I need a new ID firstly, then a job, a car, and some stuff to call my own."

"New ID? What's wrong with yours?" The red haired speedster didn't know Thomas's backstory.

"I technically don't exist and would need a new last name. I don't want that though." Thomas hoped that small tidbit of information would be enough information for the team to know, seeing as how Batman wasn't too keen on him spilling the beans about alternate universes and the whatnot, but he knew that it probably wouldn't keep them from pressing any further.

"Why?" The ginger just wasn't getting it and it was irritating Thomas. _Maybe a little flame ball on top of his head would get him to shut up._

Thomas wanted to be irritated at the younger teen, but as he spoke his tone became somber, which his audience easily picked up on. "Getting a new last name would mean losing part of what makes me 'me', you know? I don't want to lose that part of me that still connects me to my family. I'll never see them again, but a small part of my family can live on through me. Starting over here with no connection to them would too damn hard."

Kaldur was the first to speak. "Losing your family would indeed be hard. I never knew my own father, but growing up with a family and leaving them behind is unimaginable to me. If you want any assistance, you have only to ask. We'll leave you to your thoughts." As Kaldur and Wally stood to leave, the leader turned to Thomas.

"And Thomas, welcome to the team."

* * *

**May 8****th  
****Mount Justice  
****9:00 a.m.****  
**

_Recognized Batman 02, Superman 01_

The World's Finest entered their former headquarters to the sound of dulcet tones of Rodney Atkins "Take a Back Road". Superman couldn't help smirk and nod his head to the music as the two heroes walked towards their destination. Batman was, of course, not amused with his partner's behavior, as he could never understand how he even stands the so called 'country music'.

"You know, every time I meet this kid, I like him more and more." The blue-clad hero was smiling to himself as heard one of his favorite new songs.

Batman stopped Superman before they went farther into the cave and handed him a tablet. "I put together a file on Thomas that he'll be helping us to fill in. Check it over before we meet with him, I'm sure with your speed reading it shouldn't take long." The Dark Knight strode onward into the cave while Superman slowly walked behind taking in the information on the team's newest member.

_**Name: **_**Thomas**

_**Codename: **_**Hawkeye**

_**Age: **_**17 – Mental Age: 21 – **

_**Gender: **_**Male**

_**Height: **_**5'7"**

_**Weight: **_**145 lbs.**

_**Abilities: **_**Genetically altered clone body. Enhanced strength on par with Aqualad, fast reflex's than any non-meta human, increased metabolism, stamina and healing factor. Strong exertion will tire him, but little to no lactic acid builds up in muscles from light workouts. Increased intelligence. Posseses strong hand-to-hand fighting skills and wields Promethium crafted baseball bat expertly, likely due to enhance strength allowing for expert control in combat situations. Can create and manipulate flames and explosions, requires more training to test limitations.**

_**Known Past:**_** Thomas is from an alternate reality where he grew up on a farm in Iowa, but was kidnapped and experimented on by unknown forces. Memories telepathically implanted from original body into cloned body. He is indeed himself, but mentally is sometimes unsure of his reality. No known way to send him home has created mental anguish from losing his former life. Psychologically he will require monitoring to help with adjustment into new world. Has shown response to Hawkman to help him deal with the massive loss. Martian Manhunter believes Thomas was released covertly without the knowledge of whoever kidnapped him and whoever helped him had telepathic abilities. Thomas had memories of the experimentation wiped from his mind or at least suppressed: Manhunters assessment appears at this time to be accurate.**

Staring at the pad in his hands Superman muttered to himself. "Damn. Guess that's why Hawkman was so keen on helping the kid."

Batman heard the Kryptonian as he caught up behind him. "See, just because he grew up on a farm like you doesn't make you _that _similar."

"Hey, farm life is pretty constant no matter where you're from, or whatever universe for that matter." The Big Blue Boy Scout suddenly stopped as they reached their destination, the living room. As they approached their found Thomas lounging with his feet on the couch looking something up on Robin's laptop that the young acrobat had graciously let him borrow. The young man looked up as heard the boot falls of the two as they neared.

"Oh hey guys, what's up?" He shut the laptop and stood up to address the League members.

Batman regarded the young man for a moment before speaking. "Aqualad briefed me on your situation about starting a life here. After taking into account his assessment and your own statements to me, I feel Superman can help you set things up to your liking, though when it comes to your new ID, I will handle that myself." With a swoosh of his cape, the Dark Knight headed back to the zeta tubes to catch a ride back to Gotham City, where he was sure that the Joker had decided to cause more mayhem in his short absence. The Clown Prince of Crime sure knew how to pick his timing, that was for sure.

As the two watched Batman head home, Superman was the first to speak. "So Batman tells me you grew up on a farm like I did."

With a smile plastered all over his face Thomas quickly replied. "Sure did, and loved every minute of it. It wasn't easy, but nothing beats living a farm life. 4-wheeling, paintball, playing baseball on the yard, shooting hoops, rocking the .243 and the .22, God it was great!" As the memories of his past life flashed through his mind, Thomas's face turned more somber. "I miss it a lot. I just want a little piece of that back, if you can understand that."

Superman looked at the young man before him and smiled. "Trust me kid, I do. I was thinking about this on the way over actually. Batman mentioned you were trying to find a way to fit into this world and I think I've found a way. There's a neighbor of mine who's in the know about me being Superman and has proven reliable enough for good old' Bats to agree to let you live and work there. My old house is nearby and there is a zeta tube on site, so you'd have easy access to the network. Plus, it would give you something to do with your abundance of time. What do you think?"

Thomas looked down at the floor with his hands stuffed into his pockets on his faded denims. He nodded seemingly to himself a few times before looking up at Superman. "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to need a few things first."

"Such as?" The young man's odd statement had puzzled the Kryptonian. Before he could get a response out of Thomas the young man turned toward the kitchen with Superman following him and began furiously writing down a list of items. He smiled to himself when it was done and quickly handed it to the older hero.

"I don't need everything on there," he said while Superman perused the paper. "but #2 is definitely my favorite. I want a truck as close you can get to those specs." Thomas had written down that he needed a vehicle for both here at the cave and maybe on the farm. The truck was a black 1979 Chevrolet C10 Silverado Step-Side with a 350 motor with as close to original wood bed as was manageable. A similar truck had been in his family since his uncle bought the same on in 1979 as his first vehicle and re-built it after he wrecked it in an accident.

Once Superman finished the list he nodded and spoke. "I think we can manage most of these."

A smirk tugged at the right corner of Thomas's mouth. "Sweet."


	9. The List

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

**A/N: I mentioned a list of things Thomas wanted last chapter so I've gone ahead and let you know what he wanted below!**

* * *

Thomas's List

1. Job – Preferably something outside

2. Two trucks

Specs: Black, 1979 C10 Silverado step-side. Wood Bed with snap on bed cover. Front springs replaced with lower riding springs for a smoother ride. 350 motor. Original interior, power windows, new stereo system with input capability

Truck #2: This truck will be for cruising around Happy Harbor and always parked in the cave at all times when I'm here. Essentially the same truck specs, but larger engine w/ more horsepower. Tow package included, false bottom of the truck bed. Underneath will be a team armory in case the base is attacked. Two bows and quivers for the archers, extra utility belt for Robin, water bearers and sealed water container for Kaldur, goggles and food for Wally, and an extra bat and Kevlar combat vest for me. Accessible through hidden DNA scanner inside of gas cap. Obviously needs a higher security system to ensure it isn't stolen around town. Check with Batman on this.

3. 4-wheeler

Dark green 680 Honda Recon EFI

Gun Rack

4. Paintball Gun

Tippman 98 Custom with Flatline barrel

E-trigger

5. Ghillie suit

6. Materials and space to build outdoor paintball course

Seed pallets

Old farm materials, wood and junk

7. .243 or .22 Rifle w/ Scope

Maybe include them in the emergency armory of the Cave as well, can never be too careful

8. 32" TV or bigger w/ XBOX 360 and Live Gold membership

Halo: Reach

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Halo 3

Call of Duty: Black Ops _I love the zombies!_

Call of Duty: MW3

Tiger Woods '12

NCAA Football '12

9. Wii w/ MarioKart and drunk simulator goggles!

10. Laptop

11. I really like Mt. Dew so that should be stocked in the Cave at all times along with various frozen pizzas.

12. Also, is there a zeta tube to anywhere in Iowa? I want Casey's Pizza all the time since it's the best on earth! If there isn't a Casey's in this universe I'm going to flip shit!

13. Left-handed outfielder's mitt. Try for Mizuno or an A2000. A few bats and balls as well, want to teach the team baseball.

14. Various cooking supplies. I'm decent in the kitchen so I can help at the cave, consider M'gann's a walking disaster in there.

15. A cell phone for obvious reasons.


	10. This Means War

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

* * *

**May 20****th**** – 1:30 p.m.  
****Somewhere in Rhode Island****  
**

"ARTEMIS! DROP, NOW!" Wally screamed at the blonde archer as though the world was ending. Artemis had been flanked in the fray of battle and was about to be killed. Wally couldn't let that happen, not if he had any say in the matter. As he screamed, he brought his gun to bear over the top of the now prone Artemis and aimed at his target 12 feet in front of him. The black gun gleamed in the sunlight and the warm trigger slightly resisted Wally as he fired. The semi-automatic's aim was straight and true, and after a quick pull, Wally's target was down, the shot ending the small confrontation of a much larger battle. The red haired speedster flew over to his fallen enemy and removed his helmet. What he saw made him stand up and gasp as he dropped the mask in the dirt at his feet. The face of the man he'd shot hadn't been what he expected. Wally West had killed Barry Allen, the Flash.

* * *

**10 Days earlier  
****Mount Justice  
****4:30 p.m.****  
**

It had taken a while for Batman and the League to round up much of the stuff Thomas had requested. Most of it was assembled in the cargo bay at Mount Justice. As Thomas and the rest of the team entered the cavernous vehicle wing, what greeted them was a veritable armory's worth of weapons. Not just any weapons, mind you, paint ball guns. A dozen paint ball guns as well as other paint ball accessories, like combat vests, utility harnesses with extra ball storage, paint grenades, ghillie suits, helmets, knee guards, and other tools of paint ball warfare. Seeing the cornucopia of awesomeness in front of him, Thomas just stopped as his eyes widened and he couldn't keep himself from raising his arms and yelling, "Oh hell YEAH!"

Thomas wasn't the only one excited either, Wally had quickly sprinted to the weapons and began to inspect the Tippman Alpha Black w/ Silencer attached. "Dude, I think we're going to get to play paintball! Freaking awesome!"

Kaldur stepped forward to examine the foreign equipment that seemed rather peculiar to him. "Batman did say we would be having combat training, though he neglected to mention this. I apologize for my ignorance, but what exactly is paintball?"

Thomas pulled back the slide on the gun he had in hand, grinning as he felt the gun lock into firing position. "Only the greatest and most awesome way to have fun every devised by man! Don't worry, oh fearless leader, Wally and I, though mostly I, will school you in the art of paintball."

And so it went for the next day and half that Thomas instructed the members of the team on how to play paintball and use proper communication and tactics to play various game modes like capture the flag, team deathmatch, and terrorists v. cops. He talked about how to properly load, fire and clean the paintball gun after use and how to use the terrain around you to your advantage using things like a ghillie suit to sit in the grass and wait for your enemy to get close enough for a kill. L-maneuvers and pop-up slides were taught to let the team know how take enemy positions without losing a teammate. The training room in Mount Justice was covered in paint from hours of practicing with the guns and various techniques Thomas had taught them. They were all quite impressed by Thomas's passion and dedication to teaching them something he so clearly loved.

"Totally feeling the aster on this paintball stuff, Thomas, thanks for teaching us." Robin just couldn't help but throw in one of his favorite words to describe the situation.

"Well, I was actually trying to be a teacher or coach in my world, but I think I'd rather do this instead. Though I do wonder why Batman let us destroy the cave like this. Doesn't seem like a very Bat-like thing to do, you know?"

Many of the team murmured agreement with Thomas's assessment of the situation, but didn't have a chance to fully respond as a scarlet clad speedster raced into the room in a blur. He seemed positively giddy at whatever he was about to tell the team.

"We're gonna have a Justice League v. Young Justice paintball war!" At the news, Wally screamed about how cool that was before he was flew off after Flash in a futile attempt at shooting the older hero with his gun.

Thomas looked around the training room and saw the many splotches of red paint covering the training room's usual spotless walls. "I suppose we better get this cleaned up."

Kaldur nodded in agreement and added. "Though we should probably return these weapons to storage before doing so."

As the team was getting their guns and suits off and put away they heard load roaring coming from just outside the cave door as the back vehicle door slowly began to descend. It wasn't like an animal; rather it was the roar of two very load carbureted engines. Thomas's ears perked up at the sound, much more so than his teammates who didn't know what that sound might mean. As the ramp fully descended two nearly identical black 1979 C10 Silverado steps rolled into two empty spaces at the north end of the bay. Thomas ran over the trucks at a speed that probably would have made Wally a little jealous and started hopping up and down as excitement in his eyes was clear to everyone around. Hawkman and Superman, in their civilian attire exited the vehicles as Thomas walked up to Superman trying to calm his excitement and speak clearly.

"Are those what I think they are?"

Two sets of keys were tossed into the air towards the young flamethrower and Thomas caught them with ease. Looking down at the keys in his hands, Thomas heard Hawkman mutter, "Not a scratch. They weren't cheap."

While Thomas was staring at the keys in his hands, the rest of the team was admiring the show-quality looks of the classic trucks before them. M'gann had lifted the snap on bed tarp of the truck on the left and was surprised at the sight. "Why is there a wooden floor in the bed? Connor's truckbed is black and made of metal."

This brought Thomas out of his little flashback to his old life and quickly answered the Martian. "Well M'gann this is a 1979 truck while Connor's is much newer than either of these. On the older models of the truck, they commonly used wood beds." Looking at the bed Thomas realized what one of the two trucks must contain. Quickly spinning back to the Leaguers Thomas had to ask them something. "Superman, are these the trucks I put on my list? Like the exact ones?" Superman nodded with a slight smile. "Does that mean one of these trucks has got that armory I asked for?" Another nod, though this time from Hawkman. "Which one?" Both heroes pointed to the truck on the right.

Artemis had been confused by the whole conversation. "Armory? What kind of truck has one of those?"

Thomas looked down at the keys again and noticed one set had a key fab while the other didn't. The key fab had a button on it labeled "A" and he pushed it with his thumb. When he did, a humming could be heard and he went over to the truck in question and ripped off the bed tarp. What he saw made him respond to Artemis.

This one, apparently."

At his words the rest of the team strode over the truck and peered into the bed. They were quite surprised to see the sheer amount of weapons. An extra set of Kaldur's water-bearers, bows and quivers for Roy and Artemis, emergency rations and goggles for Wally, utility belt for Robin, and a weapon vest and bat for Thomas.

"This almost rivals the Batmobile, man, awesome." The fact that it got such high praise from Robin spoke volumes indeed, but there was something the young acrobat couldn't quite figure out. "Why though? And why this truck?"

Superman and Hawkman had watched the young heroes pour over the two vehicles in fascination and chuckled as they marveled over the weapons cached hidden inside. Robin's question got a swift reply from Batman who unbeknownst to anyone had entered the cargo bay.

"Because after what happened with the androids last year, we needed to put an emergency armory in place. We have several aboard Watchtower, but never placed any here in our first base. It was time to change that, and the opportunity presented itself in Thomas's request for a vehicle. The non-enhanced truck is for his personal use, the other truck will be the team's secondary vehicle in case of emergencies. Meet in the briefing room in 10 minutes."

Having explained the situation to the team, Batman turned and walked back to the training room to speak with Black Canary.

"And in case you're wondering," Superman had begun addressing Thomas individually, "The other truck is your work truck. Considering you're stuck here with no real resources of your own, the League thought we should pitch in and help out if possible. I'll give you a lift in it later to Kansas so you can leave it there on my parent's farm and zeta back and forth from here as needed."

* * *

10 minutes later, the team had assembled as Batman had ordered. Black Canary was standing in the center of the briefing room looking fairly mischievous, which was never a good sign for the team's physical state. When that happened, it usually involved some extreme survival training or combat with actual League members, which never ended well for the team. Thomas was the first to enter and didn't notice anything unusual, as he hadn't been around that long, but when the rest of the team caught up, he heard a chorus of dismays and few attempted retreats. He distinctly heard an overly-dramatic Robin.

"Oh dear God, run for your lives!"

Despite his theatrics, the youngest member of the team followed everyone else in for whatever it was the League had planned for them on this particular day in May. They weren't exactly prepared for what Canary was about to tell them. They remembered what Flash had said about a paintball war, but assumed it would be a few weeks off at least.

"Considering its May and nearly all of you will be done with school soon, the League, at the suggestion of several of our more enthusiastic members, will be having a little experimental combat situation. You will be expected to complete the mission against your mentors and various other League members without using any of your abilities, including your often used mental link-up." The last part of Canary's statement was a letdown for the team. They'd really come to rely on Miss Martian for her telepathic communication while on missions. Fighting the League would be a whole lot tougher without that advantage.

Being the more investigative member of the team Robin was ill at ease with Canary's explanation. "You still haven't told us what the mission was yet."

Canary for her part seemed to be trying unsuccessfully to hold back her smile before she collected herself to speak again. "Robin, your team's mission is to take down the Justice League while in a wooded area during daylight."

"Weapons?"

"What the League provided you with for practice earlier today." Canary turned and left the team to figure it out for themselves. Nearly all of them figured out at the same time. Wally was the first to speak. "Did she just say what I think she said?"

"Yeah she did, way to use that big brain of yours Baywatch. How about you go lie down, probably done too much thinking already today wouldn't want you to overdo it." Artemis was just about to keep going when the face of the Batman appeared on the screen in front of them.

His low, serious voice drew their full attention. "You did hear Black Canary correctly. Next Sunday, you will be participating in an outdoor combat situation without using your abilities. The situation will also test your teamwork and communication skills. League members participating will be myself, Flash, Superman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter and Black Canary. Your full team will be used in addition to Red Arrow. Location, scans of the battleground and rules of engagement are in your mission briefing. You are to come up with your own plan of attack and meet the League on site next Sunday at 1300 hours." Without so much as salutation Batman cut communications leaving the team to put all the pieces together themselves.

Thomas's eyes gleamed with the prospect of a paintball war, given his superior experience in that particular arena, "Guys, I'll handle the plan."

* * *

**May 20****th****: 11:00 a.m.  
****Somewhere in Rhode Island**

The team piled out of the trucks as they arrived on the site that Batman had selected. Robin had ridden with Thomas in his single cab to go over plans of attack on the 30 minute drive. Connor had also driven his Silverado crew cab with M'gann, Artemis and Wally. Roy followed behind in his yellow Corvette that was gift from Oliver for his 18th birthday. Thomas couldn't resist pumping the gas through the 350 motor one last time before killing the engine, which annoyed most of the team members. To them, Thomas was behaving a little too much like a kid in a candy store, but they were just glad he wasn't acting all mopey. After unpacking the gear and getting setup, Thomas explained he wanted to survey the area with his own eyes and then get ready for the fight. He made sure that the team followed him so they would know the plan and not be running around with their heads cut off when the paint balls started flying in a little under two hours. As the team listened to what Thomas had to say, they were mostly impressed with his level of detail, especially the last part of his plan. He not only planned on the team putting up a fight, but actually winning.

**Two hours later – 1:00 p.m.**

Each member of Young Justice was wearing a traditional paintball mask with their wireless communicators tucked into their ears. They also wore military grade camouflage and blended in almost seamlessly with their surroundings if they moved slowly. Everyone checked their hoppers were full and the CO2 tanks properly fastened, just in time to hear the signal Batman had placed go off to signify the game was afoot. Thomas wasted no time in putting his plan into action. Roy, Kaldur and Artemis were to travel the left side of the area that had been fenced off for the battle. On the right side, 700 feet on the far side, Wally, M'gann and Connor would fan out and advance, keeping pace with Roy and Artemis. Thomas would follow them right down the middle, hanging about 10 feet back from their positions in the hopes of catching some League members in a cross fire. The playing surface for the battle was about 2000 feet long north to south and 700 feet wide east to west, so Thomas wanted to get his team to near the halfway point before the League did.

Outside of Batman and Canary, the League didn't do stealth so well and this was on full display on a sunny day in a Rhode Island forest. Wonder Woman and Hawkman were first up the middle and the team easily caught then in the cross fire without a single shot being fired by their opponent.

Roy couldn't help but gloat to the team over his comm even if it was just in a whisper. "Well that was easy."

Thomas, however, knew that wasn't the case. "Don't get cocky. I'll bet Batman used them as decoys to find our positions and tactics, maybe even get behind us himself."

"Agreed." Robin knew Batman all too well. "We should fall back about 30 feet and wait for their next move."

"Good plan, Rob." Thomas wasn't going to take unilateral control of the mission just yet. "You heard the little guy, team. Fall back 30 feet and hold position. You stay in position, Rob."

"Will do, back to radio silence guys." With that, the little Robin went back to his hiding place. waiting for the action to reach him.

Moving back proved a wise strategy, as Flash and Superman charged forward just after WW and Hawkman had been able to exit the arena safely. They searched the area and were confused where they weren't shot at or found no trace of the team other than the splash pattern from a few random paintballs. "Supes, what the hell? You said they were right here, you said you heard it!"

The team had heard Flashes outburst and Thomas was quick to take action. "Artemis and Wally move up on each side and take them out."

They both acknowledged and moved forward up the left and right side. In a minute several pops could be heard by both sides that soon developed into a full-fledged firefight. M'gann's eyes widened and she reached for her comm.

"Artemis, what's happening?"

"They guessed our play. We got Superman and Flash, but Aquaman, Canary and Manhunter were waiting. It was a trap and I'm pinned down, Wally's already out." A few more pops filled the air. "And now I am too, good luck." And just as quickly as the skirmish started, it was over.

"Alright guys, you heard Artemis, Canary, Aquaman and Manhunter our right in front of us. We've got the numbers here so move forward slowly maintaining positions relative to each other." Thomas wasn't about to let the fight turn out in the other team's favor.

"But what about Bats?" Roy, ever the optimist, wasn't liking how things were going so far.

"Don't worry, I got a plan for Bats." Cutting his comm, Thomas turned his full attention back to his surroundings and not a moment too soon. Several paintballs exploded on the tree on his right and he hit the deck. Judging by the pattern on the tree Thomas guessed the shooters location. "Two on the right side! Watch out for the third on the left!" His team got the message as Roy and Kaldur opened fire on the right side and while Connor and M'gann scouted the left side in front of them. It wasn't long until they reported success, but at a cost. Kaldur's assessment of the situation was most worrisome. "My friend, we were able to neutralize our targets, but in the cross fire we were taken out as well. I'm sorry, but all that is left is Batman. Be on your guard."

The finality of Aqualad's last statement had Thomas sweating, though that might have been the sun beating down on his through the trees. His mask was fogging up slightly given the humidity on the late day in May. Thomas readied his backup plan and advanced forward, hoping Batman made the play that he hoped the Dark Knight would. Thomas kept walking through the brush and fallen logs and nearly reached the far end of the surface before Batman made his presence known.

"It's over, surrender. Now." Batman's gravelly voice gave Thomas goose bumps, but he wasn't going to let the Bat get the better of him, at least not yet. He slowly turned around and hid the pulling of his paint grenades pin with the snapping of several twigs at his feet. As he turned he tossed the grenade at the instant he felt the sting of the paintball hit his chest. Batman saw the grenade and retreated behind a nearby tree as the paint narrowly missed him.

After it passed Batman moved around the tree towards Thomas. "Well done, but you failed to eliminate my team."

Thomas grinned. "So did you." The look on Batman's usually indiscernible face was priceless. His eyes widened as Robin stepped up behind him and placed his gun barrel next to the Caped Crusader's head. The 13-year old had a smile that was visible even underneath his mask.

"We win."

* * *

The Justice League and Young Justice were sitting on the JL's side of the battlefield talking about recent missions and the training today. They heard the skirmish between Batman and Thomas and anxiously awaited to see how it turned out. Most of the Leaguers were smiling because Batman was Batman and he couldn't lose, which was exactly why the teen heroes were looking downtrodden. As Batman, Thomas and Robin exited the forest to meet up with them there was a look of shock on most of the League member's faces, they'd forgotten about Robin. Trying not to get their hopes up, the young team walked up to Thomas and Robin who themselves were looking dejected. As the team neared, Thomas broke into a laugh along with Robin who had doubled over and addressed his teammates. "We won!"

The League couldn't believe they'd lost to a bunch of kids, who were at this moment celebrating on their back across the field towards their vehicles. As the older heroes readied for transport up to Watchtower, Flash had to ask Batman something. "How'd they beat us? They're just bunch of kids."

Batman faced his teammates. "They're good, even better than I thought. They work well as a team and they'll need to continue doing so in the future."


	11. A Convenience Store and a Whole Lot More

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. They are solely the property of their respective owners/creators.**

* * *

**June 1****st  
****Mount Justice  
****10:30 a.m.****  
**

Summer is truly a time to be free and enjoy life. The members of Young Justice were experiencing that as school had now officially ended for each and every one of them until next September rolled around. Their only real friends were all on the team so a majority of the time they could be found in the cave, on the beach, or roaming the streets of Happy Harbor. Thomas, however, was not like the rest of the team. He'd told Superman that he'd put in some work for old Ben Hubbard in Kansas and that was exactly what he was doing on a gorgeous Midwest summer day. While most kids were still sleeping Thomas was helping Ben redo the pasture fence along his lane and he was actually ok with that. This intrigued the old farmer Thomas was working with. They hadn't been working that long together and Ben thought it was time to change that.

"So how is it that a young man like yourself is helping an old fart like me? Clark said you all but volunteered."

Thomas finished pounding in a strip of nails securing the new 1-by-5 planks to the freshly placed cedar post before he spoke. "Well, I don't know how much Clark told you, but I grew up on a farm and while I was enjoying my weeks off with nothing but training I knew I needed something to do. This seemed like a good fit. I can't exactly go home and doing something with my time keeps me from thinking too much about stuff I'd rather not think about."

"I can understand that. If I didn't farm anymore I'm afraid I would go insane in a nursing home in Smallville. Since my wife passed things have been pretty slow around here and work helps." Despite the heart-to-heart the pair never stopped working. Even after the older farmer called it a day Thomas kept right on trucking on the fence line with a 30 minute stop for lunch. By five in the afternoon he had only one more section to complete. Around that time Hubbard had hopped in his Gator and rolled down the lane to pick Thomas up given that the lane was about 3 miles long it was quite the walk back to the house. They'd laid out materials at each section of the fence ahead of time so Thomas didn't need his truck at that end of the lane. When he reached the end of the lane Hubbard was pleasantly surprised at the progress that the youngster had accomplished.

"Well you certainly work fast I'll give you that! That'll probably save me a week's worth of work!"

"My dad always said, 'Work fast and get the job done because it'll save time tomorrow.' With what I can do I can work pretty darn fast I guess." Thomas climbed in the passenger seat of the green side-by-side and they rode of towards the house back up the lane to the north.

"So what are you doing for supper? I hadn't planned on anything but you're welcome to find what you can in the house."

Thomas smiled at the older man's offer. "I appreciate that sir, but my friends and I had planned on a little get together. Next time I'll have to take you up on that." Adjusting his work hat on his head Thomas walked over to his truck and turned the thunderous engine over. As it roared to life he couldn't help but feel like he was top of the world at that very moment. He floored on the way over to Jonathan and Martha Kent's to catch the zeta tube to the cave to meet up with the team. The tubes thankfully could be adjusted to allow for a vehicle to transport through and Thomas loved taking advantage of that feature as he put the truck in park in the cave's cargo bay. With a metallic clang he slammed the door shut and started off towards the kitchen for some food.

He didn't get very far before he ran into Wally in the halls. "Hey Walls, what's for eating tonight?"

"Don't know dude, M'gann's not feeling up to cooking and the rest of us have no clue what we're doing. Robin isn't around with the money for pizza and we'd planned on a movie night."

Thomas heard these words and a planned clicked into place in his mind. "Wally give me 40 minutes and I'll get your pizza." Thomas quickly sprinted in to the computer room and looked up a series of websites and let out a loud whoop signaling he'd found what he was looking for. Still in his work jeans and boots Thomas felt around in his pockets and breathed a sigh of relief that he still had his wallet on him. He opened it up to check that he'd have enough to cover the bill. The $80 bucks in the wallet shock his red-haired partner in crime.

"Dude, where'd you get money?"

"Hey, I ain't working for free." He pulled out his phone as he was walking out of the room and back towards the vehicle bay while he left Wally trying to figure just what he'd been looking up on the computer.

* * *

40 minutes later Robin had showed up from Gotham and the whole gang was trying to figure out what movie to watch when they heard the familiar tones of the computer announcing a zeta transport: _Recognized Hawkeye: B08._

_Well, that's new, _Thomas thought to himself as he briskly walked towards the kitchen with five large pizzas each of a different topping. Wally was of course the first to follow and damn near ripped it out of his hands as Thomas set the pile down on the counter.

"Casey's? Never heard of it?" Artemis was less than enthusiastic looking at the grease-filled pizzas before her.

Thomas wasn't going to let her attitude ruin his day since he'd found Casey's did in fact exist in this universe. "It's only the best pizza in Iowa. Try it and I guarantee you'll like it."

"Yeah Arty, it's great!" Wally had already gone through 6 slices of his sausage pizza that had been labeled –Wally's: Don't Touch-.

"Baywatch, you like anything so your opinion doesn't count."

"Love you too, babe."

"Artie, seriously feeling the aster on the pizza man." Robin was deeply enjoying the food as well. "Just give it a shot."

"Fine." As she took her first bite of the pizza a feeling a food orgasm hit her taste buds. The way the cheese and grease and pepperoni all melded together was truly exquisite. Her eyes went wide as she scarfed down the rest of the slice in pure food nirvana.

"Told you Artemis. Now would you believe it's from a gas station?" Thomas felt proud he'd turned another person into a fan of Casey's Pizza. With all the people he'd gotten hooked on it while in college in his universe they should have given him a medal, or at least a one year discount or something.

After the team had nearly eaten their fill they remembered their original mission, find a movie. "Thomas, since you bought the food would like to choose the movie?" Kaldur was ever the gracious one on the team and Thomas couldn't help but say yes. "Robin, you pirate the new Avengers yet?"

"Avengers?" Connor's face had confusion written all over it as did M'gann's and Kaldur's. The rest of the team's jaws were dropped at the ignorance of their teammates.

Thomas was the first to recover. "Only the greatest superhero team up on the big screen ever! Ever seen Iron Man?"

"No." Connor was now the unofficial spokesperson for those on the team uninitiated in the Marvel Universe.

"Captain America?"

"No."

"Thor?"

"No."

"Incredible Hulk?"

"No."

Thomas had grown quite frustrated with his teammate's lack of knowledge about the subject. "Well, that settles it! Movie marathon until we crash then we'll keep on going tomorrow. We'll be watching Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk in that order. Then we'll watch the Avengers. Robin, call someone who can get us some money. We're going to need a lot more pizza and a steady stream of caffeine!"

The rest of the team seemed to agree with Thomas's statement and settled in on the couch with what was left of the Casey's while Robin ran over the display case and popped Iron Man in the Blu-Ray player. Soon the room was filled with sounds of explosions and repulsor blasts and every member of the team was psyched to see this so called "Avenger's Initiative" that Samuel L. Jackson's 'Nick Fury' spoke of after the credits. Even Connor had to admit that this was far better than the static he usually preferred to watch.

* * *

Aboard Watchtower Batman watched the monitor feeds from the cave and watched the exchange happen live. Canary was also with him as he'd wanted to have her confirm his assessment of the situation. She knew more than anyone about the team considering the time she spent with them in her many capacities. She'd be able to tell him if he was right.

"What did you want Batman?" Canary didn't really expect to get called to Watchtower this late in the day before going on patrol with Ollie.

"I wanted your opinion on Thomas, considering you're been helping train him and the rest of the team for nearly a full year now."

"He's seems capable enough and a lot more mature in some aspects than even Kaldur. In some ways he's more like a kid than the rest, but when it's time to get serious he can nearly get right up there with you in terms of decisiveness."

"Agreed, in Kaldur's absence he would be a suitable leader when he gains more experience. In fact his maturity may make up for the experience as he's more level-headed than Robin."

"You think he'd be better than Robin?"

"At least right now, yes I do. Robin's has years of experience on the rest of the team, even Wally, but he is rash and impatient. That will undoubtedly change as he ages and I've already talked about this with him at home, though he didn't like it."

"I get the feeling there's more to it than that Batman."

Batman frowned beneath his cowl; he knew Canary had caught him, "This does not leave Watchtower under any circumstances." The Dark Knight reached over the keyboard and momentarily disabled Watchtower's internal sensors. "I fear that if the team lost Kaldur, or any one member of the team for that matter, then Robin would not be able to truly step up to be the leader he will someday be. He is my son," The word 'son' caught Canary off guard. It wasn't every day you heard Batman say things so personal. She paid attention quickly as the JL's unofficial leader began again. "The loss at this young age would seriously hurt him. He's seen too much real death in his life. I know the simulation shook him hard last year and in some ways he hasn't been the same since. It changed him and I'm not sure how he'd react to being the team's leader right now."

Canary looked at Batman in a new light after his personal revelation, "Bruce, you need to remember that Dick is still only 14 years old. He'll be fine, he's your son so it's not like he can really turn out that bad can he?"

At this Batman let out a small chuckle, not something he would do around many people. "Thanks Dinah. I appreciate that, I just hope that if Thomas does need to step up that we've trained him enough. He didn't grow up in this life like a lot of the team did."

"I know; it'll be fine though. It's not like anything's going to happen to Kaldur or the team any time soon. And if it did the League would help out right? I know they aren't League members outside of Roy, but we'd help right?"

"Let's just hope nothing happens to us first. Good night Dinah, you'd better get started on your patrol. I'm due in Gotham in 10 minutes."

As Bruce watched Dinah head toward the zeta tube he couldn't shake the feeling that his final words were more prophetic than they appeared. The feeling gave him goose bumps and when that happened things were seriously about to hit the fan.


	12. In Which We Meet Mr Scarecrow

**This symbol - ** [ ] - **denotes mental communication over the link. I was going to use italics, but I've been using that for people's internal thoughts and needed a different way to set the communication off from the rest of the text.**

* * *

**June 4****th**** – 12:27 p.m.  
****Mount Justice****  
**

It had been a slow day for the team. Summer was still young and the weather had been fantastic in Happy Harbor. 79 degrees and sunny skies with a slight breeze coming in off the ocean had made the perfect day at the beach, and the team didn't waste the opportunity. Robin, in his usual sunglasses, was busy harassing Connor near the water's edge. His actions were distraction though, as Wally came super-speeding up behind and got into position behind Connor. Kaldur whipped Connor with a blast of water and he fell backwards over Wally and into the water. Robin let out a cackle while Wally and Kaldur laughed at Superboy, who was trying to get up and out of the shallow water hilariously.

They quickly their childish behavior stopped when Zatanna, Artemis and M'gann walked onto the beach. Robin, Wally and Connor all quickly stood up and stared wildly as their girlfriends sauntered onto the beach. The blushing of the adolescent boys told the girls all they needed to know about their choice of swimwear. While the guys were drooling over the girls, Kaldur was, well, being Kaldur and remained as hard to read as ever.

* * *

In the nearby Cave, Thomas was cooking up his lunch. Last night, Roy had stopped by to see how he was adjusting to life in this world. The two heroes had become friends since Roy had found him in that alley a few months back.

Given that Roy was around, there'd been a little drinking involved, not that anyone else on the team needed to know that and Roy had crashed on the couch for the night. The alcohol hadn't affected Thomas, given his altered metabolism, but he'd nonetheless stayed up playing Halo with Roy until the wee hours of the morning. M'gann had just made her daily store run for Wally and had brought back supplies for various things, so Thomas decided on cooking spaghetti for himself and Roy (if the latter ever got his ass off the couch just 20 feet away.) He didn't have to wait long for that to happen.

"Ugh, why are the lights in here so bright?" Roy clearly was still feeling the effects of last night. He sat up on the old couch and put his face in his hands to block out the light. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have let me drink so much. Way to be a real friend." The sarcasm was quite evident in Roy Harper's voice.

"Well, it wasn't like you were driving, and you're a big boy Roy. You've got plenty of experience drinking." That was probably not a good thing to say, considering the experience had been what touched off Roy's latest drinking binge. Finding out you're a clone kind of makes you question things, like your existence, sanity, and memories that you could have sworn were your own.

"Don't go there Thomas, just don't."

"Sorry man, sorry. Get over here and get something in your stomach." Roy obliged the younger man and dragged his body to the kitchen, plopping down on the wooden stool by the counter. Truth be told, Roy knew that at least the other Roy had had worse hangovers, but thinking about the "real" Roy and what that meant for him made his head hurt so he tried to change the subject.

"So, Thomas, how does it feel to be 18?"

"You mean be 18 again, right?"

"Again?"

"I thought you were in on the meeting with Batman? Anyway, I was 21 when I got pulled through to this universe. My new body is only 18 now, but mentally I'm actually 22."

Thomas saw Roy visibly tense up at the implication of Thomas being a clone. It was a touchy subject for the young archer. Trying to help out one of the few friends he had in this world, Thomas spoke up again. "You know, Roy, I get where you're at, maybe more than anyone besides Connor. I know that it isn't exactly the same, but I've been cloned and now I am that clone. If you need to vent about these things, maybe even use me as a punching bag I get it. And don't worry, I can take it. Plus, it'd give me a reason to retaliate and kick your ass."

Roy chuckled. "I know you can man, and, while I appreciate the offer this is just something I need to handle myself."

Roy's minimal response didn't sit well with Thomas, so he kept pressing while he dished up the recently finished spaghetti. "So, how's the search going?"

"Honestly, not well. We've been searching for months now. Haven't even found a small clue as to where they might have the original Roy." The way he stressed the word 'original' made Thomas glance sideways at him, but Roy didn't notice. "Things haven't exactly been good at home either."

"Women troubles?"

"You have no idea."

"Try me."

Roy took a sip of water. "Well, my gir-hell, I can't even call her that without getting my tongue sliced out. I believe her exact words for our relationship was that we're no more than _fuck buddies_."

"Ouch. I take it you don't see it that way."

"Look, I like her. A lot. But she's hardly ever around. And she's on exactly on the right side of the law, if you know what I mean, so I can't really talk about it with Ollie."

"Don't want to been seen as the hero who's rutting with the enemy."

Roy nearly snorted into his coffee. While he collected himself, Thomas steered the conversation back to the food.

"Well, we can hash through this after you eat. Seriously, dig in."

Roy picked up the Parmesan and sprinkled some on his plate of pasta and twirled a large pile around on his fork. Slurping it up, he was pleasantly surprised. "Dude this is awesome! Where'd you learn to cook like this?"

"My mom taught me a few tricks." Remembering his mom brought back a lot of somber memories Thomas had been trying to avoid. Given than another version of himself existed in this universe he was banned from seeing this version of his family. The kicker was that the League didn't want innocent civilians placed in harm's way if Thomas was ever identified and mistaken for this universe's version of himself. Effectively, he was cut off from not one, but two worlds. The whole situation was just maddening, and it was showing on his face as he thought things through. Roy was uncomfortable with the silence, so he quickly tried to initiate another conversation.

"So, 22, huh? Damn, and I thought I was getting old."

"Yeah, and don't you forget about it, Roy-boy."

"Why?"

"I'm kind of your elder now, bitch, and you don't disrespect your elders." Thomas smirked at the archer. "Though knowing you, that wouldn't matter. Running your mouth seems to be one of your few positive traits." Both men let out a hearty laugh at that when they remembered their first few meetings.

Roy wasn't one to just give up on a chance to get a dig in on his friend. "At least I wasn't the one who fainted after taking out a couple of bad guys in an alley."

"Hey, I was bleeding profusely from a stab wound in the shoulder and going through a physical metamorphosis! I think I deserve some slack for that."

"Sure, just keep telling yourself that, Thomas. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Shut your cake hole and eat the food that _I _cooked. Asshole."

Thomas swearing and sarcastic attitude had thrown a few members of the team and the League for a loop when they first met him, but Roy understood. Thomas respected people that earned it, but wasn't going to cower to anyone on the League or take any of the crap whether he was a member or not. Heck, he was even one of the few people that he'd ever seen stand up to Batman. With civilians he was professional, courteous and generally better-spoken, but when he was with the team and his friends he changed. He let loose and was just having some honest fun. Roy liked that, and after meeting Thomas for a few times he knew that they'd be friends for a long time to come, provided neither of them died.

_Stop that Roy, _Roy was tired of always thinking pessimistic things, but he'd changed since he found out he was a clone. Maybe it was time to take Dinah up on here offer for counseling. She'd always been nice to him, especially when he'd screwed up and pissed off Ollie. Or at least she'd been nice to the real Roy. _God, stop thinking like that!_

Having finished his food, Roy stood up and collected his gear. "Thanks for the food man, I'm gonna head out."

"Anytime, you just say the word. You know the team could stand a little more maturity, feel free to drop by sometime. Kaldur and I get a little over or heads sometimes and I've only been at this a few months!"

Roy chuckled thinking of his young friends. "Yeah, Robin and Wally sure can be a handful. Doubt they'll ever grow out it. It's been fun, see you around."

"Yeah you too man, have a good one." Thomas watched as Roy left the hideout via the zeta: _Recognized: Red Arrow B04_. He chuckled as heard Roy's voice cry out before fading away. "It's Arsenal!"

As his friend left, Thomas turned around to see the place empty and he felt bored. With his time freed, he wondered if old Hubbard needed anything on the farm He was about to pull out his phone when the computer interrupted his thoughts: _Recognized: Batman 02._ The silhouette of the Batman appeared just before his body materialized out of the yellow light beam of the zeta tube.

Batman stared at Thomas for a moment before his gravelly voice demanded the young hero's attention. "Mission for the team. Assemble in the training room in 20 minutes."

As the older hero passed down the hall, Thomas tapped his comm to call the team from the beach. "Hey, you guys get the message?"

Kaldur was the first to respond to Thomas's inquiry. "Robin relayed the message from Batman moments ago. We will meet you there."

"Understood, see you in a few."

* * *

In 20 minutes, the full team was assembled along with Batman in the training room. Artemis was inspecting her bow, Robin checking his utility belt, and Kaldur was securing his water-bearers while Thomas stood on the left of the team and mentally checked off his list of gadgets, _Smoke bombs? Check. Hornet's Nest? Check. Knives? _After patting down his ankles, hip and wrist, _Check. Bat? Check. Combat wire? Check, _though only after pulling the wire out of his left wrist and pulling it all the way out before letting it snap back in. Zatanna, Superboy, Miss Martian and Wally really didn't have anything to check over, though Wally couldn't resist switching his uniform back and forth from stealth to normal. Artemis certainly noticed. "Baywatch, stop touching yourself!"

A small cough from Batman got their attention. "Your target is an unknown drug manufacturer operating in Gotham." The name Gotham certainly got their attention, as if Batman hadn't done that just by standing there.

"Gotham, sir? Isn't you and Robin's turf?" Thomas knew that Batman didn't like other heroes in his city, probably didn't want to look bad or something.

"I am going off planet; the team can handle this mission. The intelligence places the manufacturing plant at an abandoned warehouse near the docks on the northeast part of Gotham. is where for the drug."

Robin, ever the curious teenager noticed Batman hadn't said what the drug was. He was about to ask before Batman answered his question first. "The drug seems to be a variation of Scarecrow's fear gas, but he is currently in Arkham Asylum. Someone has modified his toxin and has used it in several locations around the city. The attacks have resulted in 20 hospitalizations and 12 deaths, though it will be much worse if whoever is behind this decides to attack a more populated area. These first attacks appear to be tests of the new drug. We need to move now to ensure the culprit is caught before more lives are lost. Depart immediately."

* * *

One hour later the team was nearing Gotham City. Robin had been uncharacteristically quiet aboard the bio-ship, something that the team did not fail to pick up on. Noticing the stares of the team, Robin felt he should speak up. "Fine, I think Batman may not have had all the intel to send on this mission, ok?"

Robin questioning Batman was big, it didn't happen often. Wally, having known Robin and Batman the longest, didn't let it drop. "Why man? I mean, Batman's Batman, right? If he says go, we go."

"It's just that assuming Scarecrow is in Arkham and sending us in without checking is not a smart play. If Scarecrow is somehow behind this, then we're flying into a trap. We need to be extra careful on this one guy, trust me. You haven't seen anything like Gotham villains, and with luck you never will."

The team understood the young acrobat's words-Gotham City was well known for the insanely violent and gruesome villains that plagued its streets. Other cities had Rogues, Gotham had true super villains like the Joker. Even Superman was afraid to go up against the Clown Prince of Crime because there were no rules with Gotham villains and Joker was the worst of them all. Scarecrow was in the second tier of major villains like Freeze or Riddler, but he was still not to be trifled with. With all this in mind, an uncomfortable silence settled over the team. Not even Wally had anything to say after switching his suit to stealth mode for the final time.

Only when the ship neared its target location did Kaldur break the silence. "Arrival at drop zone in 2 minutes. Prepare for exfiltration." At their leader's words, the team assembled in the center of the ship, and all but Connor and M'gann attached the safety lines to their belts. Once the ship reached its destination, a large hole opened in the floor in front of the team. Those hooked up to lines went first with M'gann slowly hovering to the ground. Connor was able to land without a sound. Thanks to a year of training, he had finally figured out how to distribute his weight and land without causing craters or seismic events. They'd all landed four blocks from their target and were going in on foot. Kaldur took immediate charge. "M'gann, link us up."

M'gann attempted the mind link, the first time she'd done so with the full team. [Everybody online?]

[Damn, this is weird!]. The whole mind link thing had kind of freaked Thomas out when Aqualad had told him about how it worked. Now that it was actually in his head it was just as weird as he expected.

Artemis empathized with the strangeness of the whole thing. [You get used to it, sort of.]

[I"ll take your word for it.]

Now that everyone was linked up, the team moved stealthily over the rooftops towards their destination. The overcast sky hid the moon masking their movements. In their year as a team, they'd all gotten better at the stealth aspect of missions, though it wasn't until Thomas's outburst at Batman that they really started to crack down on missions. That, and the fact they were somewhat maturing, made them a more effective covert team.

Thomas could tell he was in the run-down part of Gotham City. There were brick buildings long past their prime that looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch. Most of the windows were boarded up with cheap plywood. Despite the conditions, the buildings had been inhabited several years ago, but the refinery plant up the river changed all. With the prevailing winds pushing from the plant toward the homes, the smell became too unbearable for the citizens of the area and the few that remained left for another part of town. Having no one around made this location perfect for a drug producing operation, no nosey neighbors to get in the way. The team stopped across the street from the warehouse and assessed the situation.

[I've got two guards on the roof, two by the main door and two patrolling the perimeter.] Robin pulled up the blueprints of the warehouse that Batman had downloaded for him.

Kaldur appreciated the youngest member's insight into these situations, given his years of experience, and began forming a plan. [Understood, but it is likely that there are more inside. Move with caution. Kid, take the two on the door. Miss Martian, the two on the roof. Go camo to subdue them. Robin and Artemis take the last two after they've completed their next sweep. Superboy, Hawkeye, and I will move in after the guards are down.]

As the team moved out, Thomas watched as they moved quickly to complete their assigned tasks. He readied his weapon as the four reported their targets were down. At Kaldur's nod, he shot his zipline at the opposite building and he and Kaldur quickly zipline across the street. Connor simply jumped over, landing quietly beside the team.

[Dude, glad Canary helped you figure out that stealth jump.] After their first mission on Santa Prisca, Robin was glad his teammate had gotten things together.

Kaldur wasted no time on the matter. [Robin, any heat signatures in the building?]

[I count 25, those seem clustered together. Probably workers putting the product together before distribution.]

[We cannot assume that. Be ready for hostile engagement. Any other intel?]

Pointing to a place on the blueprints, Robin responded. [Based on the architecture, this location would be ideal for an office to oversee the operation. I'd try to look there for any records on the drug or its maker.]

[Agreed, make your way there with Hawkeye while the rest of us take care of the drugs and workers.]

Soundlessly the team split, with Hawkeye entering through the roof first and heading for the supposed control room. The team entered several minutes later to give them time to get the room quietly. The control room was free standing along the north wall of the old steel warehouse, so Robin and Hawkeye were able to enter through the ceiling tiles after determining the room was empty. Dropping down into the room, Hawkeye noted the computer on his left and Robin was quickly on his way to hacking through the firewalls to get the intel.

[Hack in progress. Aqualad, prepare to enter.]

[Understood, Robin, we are ready when you are.]

The mini-Robins on the screen glowed red before one by one switching to green, but there were a lot of them and it was going to take a few more minutes. Hawkeye just had to ask Robin what that whole mini-Robin thing was all about, having been told that when they verbally communicate that it wasn't transmitted mentally to the team. "Robin, what's up with the hacking thing? Mini-Robins?"

"I made the system up years ago when I was trying to hack the Batcave. I needed something to do multiple processes for me simultaneously seeing as Batman made his security so damn redundant and complex. Nothing else I've come across is anywhere near the level of his security so it usually doesn't take too long to hack, though this right here is pretty advanced for some random criminal." Robin never even took his eyes of his wrist computer while work his fingers furiously. Even when he asked Thomas a question of his own he never stopped working. "What's with the whole 'Hawkeye' thing? You needed a codename, but why Hawkeye?"

Thomas hardly hesitated in his response. "It's an Iowa thing. We're the 'Hawkeye State' and I grew up an Iowa Hawkeye fan, so it just seemed fitting."

"Really, you're based your hero name of off that?"

"Well, not only that." Thomas really didn't want to get into this during a mission, but the little shit didn't seem like he was going to let up. "Look Robin, I going to level with you here. Since Batman's your mentor, I'm assuming you've figured out my full back story." Robin gave a curt nod and went back to work. "It's simply a way to honor where I'm from, considering I can't go back home."

"I get that part, dude, why do you think I call myself Robin? It's an old nickname my mom gave me before she died when I was 8."

"Don't worry about it, man, besides, we're done here anyway." Robin unplugged the wrist computer and linked back up with the team. [Aqualad, data extracted. Let's take this place down.]

[Well done, Wally has placed the charges. Artemis, M'gann, Zatanna, Superboy and I were able to get the workers out safely. There were several guards that we have tied up with the rest of the guards we subdued earlier. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point.]

[Understood, see you guys soon.] Robin and Hawkeye went back up through the ceiling and across the rafters to the south side of the building. Both noticed the blinking lights of the charges that their speedster had placed on the load bearing beams of the structure.

[Why does Batman want this place blown up? Shouldn't the cops seize the drugs or something?] Thomas couldn't figure out why they were taking such extreme measures on this mission.

Robin, fielded the question. [Because these drugs are too dangerous for the cops to handle. If someone got exposed they'd likely die. We're still not even sure of the effects. That's why Aqualad took samples and we're blowing this place to kingdom. Thankfully this place has no surrounding population.]

[Yeah, I guess we are lucky on that one.] Something clicked in Thomas's mind and he tried to tell Robin. [Doesn't it seem a little too, I don't know, easy?]

[What do you mean?]

[Too tied up in a bow. A few guards, no members of the organization present, little population in the area so there's no worry about collateral damage? Plus how often do missions go _this_ smoothly? Especially for you guys.]

There was no response from Robin or any member of the team on that part, it did seem just a little too neat and tidy. No one would get a chance to respond as Superboy came crashing through the west wall. He was followed by a hail of bullets that forced the team back into the warehouse through whole that Superboy had created. Robin and Hawkeye were quickly moving down to the ground below while trying to assess the situation.

[What the hell happened, Kaldur?]

[I do not know. We were double checking the restraints on the prisoners when from the shadows a Cobra-Venom creature threw Superboy through the wall. They are currently surrounding the building.]

Robin looked worried at the news. [How many?]

Kaldur's brow furrowed at the question. [I am unsure, and we were quickly forced to withdraw.] He focused on his waterbearers and controlling the wall he'd created between the team and the gunfire. [We must find a way out of here. Miss Martian, call the bio-ship. Robin find us an exit.]

M'gann's eyes glowed green as she contacted the ship. [Bio-ship is on its way. She'll be above the warehouse.]

Before Robin could move up to higher ground, 20 black-booted, gun-toting soldiers broke through the row of windows above the team and took positions on the high ground before training their weapons on the team below.

"Well, this is a disaster. Heavy on the dis-."

The team was preparing to repel an attack when a loud laugh could be heard outside the building. It grew louder as it neared the Superboy sized hole in the wall and louder still as the man behind it waltzed into the building without a care in the world. He was dressed in a crumpled suit and tie, but what threw the team off was the mask over his face. His odd voice shook them even more.

"Oh, how right you are my dear Robin, how right you are."

Robin's eyes narrowed behind his domino mask as he stepped between the newcomer and the team. "Scarecrow." The name of the villain came out of his mouth in a low snarl, the years of history and past battles between the two was evident in his demeanor.

"I take it Batman doesn't know I'm out? Lucky for me. Why else would the Dark Knight send his little birdie into my domain? I'm right, aren't I? Ha, that is just too perfect!"

As Scarecrow talked, Kaldur took the time to communicate orders to his team. [Robin, call the League. There are too many for us to handle alone.]

Robin touched the Robin signal on his chest and it began blinking, sending out an emergency signal to Watchtower. [Signal sent, cavalry will be here shortly. We need to keep him talking. Kaldur, can you protect us from the explosion? The countdown is at three minutes.]

[No, I don't have what I need to do so.]

Thomas realized with his power he just might be able to pull it off. [I might be able to keep the explosions from reaching us. I've been trying to contain explosions in the training room and I think I have it under control, but we should try to get out of here before then.

Scarecrow's voice took center stage as the team tried to find a way out of the situation. "Now, are you having a conversation without me? That's quite rude, you know. No matter, the League is just so predictable. My employers said they'd send you and they were right. How much fun it will be to break you."

The last part made Robin flinch. None of the other members of the team caught the clue as to Scarecrow's plan. "So what Scarecrow? Going to dose us with this new drug? Your employers want to know its effects and we're the perfect guinea pigs?"

"Aren't you a smart one, Robin? Yes, you'll be great subjects for my new drug. My employers are very anxious to see their plans come to fruition."

[Robin, ETA on League help?] Kaldur was growing concerned with the situation. He was leader and they had seemingly been captured.

[Watchtower just sent word. One of the GLs will be here in just over 3 minutes.]

[Time until detonation?]

[45 seconds. Hawkeye, you up for the challenge?]

[You bet your ass I am.] Thomas stepped toward the middle of the team and got ready for the explosions. [Superboy, you better hold the roof up though, I can only stop the explosions from reaching us.]

[On it.] Superboy took up position directly to Thomas's left in preparation to catch the roof.

[M'gann, can you protect us from the gas with your telekinetics?]

[Not likely, my telekinetics aren't that refined yet. And your fire won't do the trick either, it would probably kill Kaldur and I to be so near that much heat.]

[30 seconds.]

Robin's mental countdown was foreboding to the members of the team. But Robin remained calm. He needed to get Scarecrow to spill about the plans before the explosion hit.

"Plans? Don't suppose you want to tell me what they were before you gassed us?"

"Oh, but that would spoil the fun wouldn't it?" Scarecrow was gloating in his victory, but he caught Robin's quick side glance to the massive I-beam on his left. His eyes widened behind his mask.

"Everybody out!"

Before he ran Scarecrow tapped a button his wrist and loaded a dose of gas into his machine. He shot a canister towards the team and turned tail out of the building.

As the team watched his leave Artemis moved to go after him, but Kaldur stopped her. [No, Artemis!]

[5, 4, 3, 2, 1.] Explosions of white hot flame rocked the warehouse as the beams collapsed and all team members expect Thomas and Superboy ducked down to avoid the flames.

"AHHH!" Thomas screamed from the exertion of trying to contain the multiple high-yield explosions. He flexed hard and gave it all he had trying to keep the flames away from the team. The canister that Scarecrow had shot was unaffected by his abilities and had landed at the team's feet. When it exploded it knocked out the team just after the explosions died. As the roof came down, Superboy managed to stop it before inhaling the gas from the canister, though several debris pieces landed on the team. Even the Kryptonian succumbed to effects of the poison while throwing the bulk of the roof away from the team, but as he lost consciousness he heard Scarecrow talking to someone with his superhearing.

"Mission successful, the sidekicks are down. It's unlikely they'll survive the gas, move to Phase Two…."


	13. Fear Gas

**Last time on Strange New World**

"_AHHH!" Thomas screamed from the exertion of trying to contain the multiple high-yield explosions. He flexed hard and gave it all he had trying to keep the flames away from the team. The canister that Scarecrow had shot was unaffected by his abilities and had landed at the team's feet. When it exploded it knocked out the team just after the explosions died. As the roof came down Superboy managed to stop it before inhaling the gas from the canister, though several debris pieces landed on the team. Even the Kryptonian succumbed to effects of the poison while throwing the bulk of the roof away from the team, but as he lost consciousness he heard Scarecrow talking to someone with his superhearing. _

"_Mission successful, the sidekicks are down. It's unlikely they'll survive the gas, move to Phase Two…."_

* * *

"John, what's your ETA on the team's location?" Plastic Man, as one of the new members, had been left on Watchtower monitor duty while the big guns were off planet helping Manhunter with a situation on Mars.

"30 seconds, Watchtower. Any further communication since the distress call was sent?"

"Negative, only communication has been Robin's emergency signal. Satellite coverage of the area hasn't shown any-. Wait, the last few seconds show an explosion of some kind! Move it, John!"

"Understood, Stewart out."

With the new intel from Watchtower, John pushed his ring hard, flying quickly over Gotham City toward the warehouse the signal originated from. If anything happened to the team, he didn't want an angry Batman on his ass. Nearing the site he saw the smoke rising into the sky and a warehouse that was falling in on itself. An armored van was driving furiously away from the scene causing John Stewart, the second of Earth's GLs a moment of hesitation. "Watchtower, unknown vehicle leaving scene of team's last known location. Track with satellite. I'm in pursuit."

"Negative GL! Search building for the kids!"

"Shut up Plastic Man, I'm not taking orders from the new guy."

"Well, I won't be the one telling Batman about how his partner got killed. That'll be on you."

Plastic Man could tell his remarks got through to Stewart. "Fine Plastic, but you had better be tracking that van."

"Don't worry about it GL, already on it. Just find the kids, will ya?"

Knowing that Watchtower was tracking the van, Stewart turned his attention back to the wreckage of the old warehouse. In the center of the building he could make out several bodies lying without movement. Flying through the smoke, the bodies became clearer to him and he didn't like what he saw.

"Damn." He called Watchtower for immediate beam up. "Plastic, get the med bay ready, eight for treatment!"

* * *

_Thomas woke up to a very familiar room. One he'd spent 21 years calling his own. He sat up on his bed and looked around to see the various Iowa Hawkeye and Minnesota Viking posters that all had slight tears in them, courtesy of one pissed off young brother. The shelf with all his Star Trek novels was hanging above his poker table. His black, wooden TV stand still held all his original PlayStation games. He swung his legs off the bed and made contact with the worn carpet below. He stared in wonder at the room around him. He'd been all but certain that he'd never make it back home, yet here he was. Thomas couldn't shake it, but something just felt wrong even though everything he saw was telling him that he was home and that he was finally safe._

_He walked out of the open door to the hallway. 'As dirty and cluttered as ever' he thought as he walked along the old banister before reaching the stairs. Happy to be home, Thomas smiled as he walked down the 13 stairs to see who was all home. He smelled ground beef cooking on the stove, 'Sweet! Home cooked meal and I only just got back!' Walking into the kitchen he saw his mother standing in the kitchen in front of the stove. "Mom!"_

_Only she didn't answer, didn't even acknowledge his presence behind her. She simply stirred the sauce into the hamburger while the noodles finished boiling in the large pot. It was like he wasn't even there. A truck pulling into the drive way made his mother look out the window. Thomas's brother, Chad, climbed out and into the house, kicking his boots down the basement stairs as he did so. Without so much as a glance at either his mother or Thomas, Chad walked to kitchen table and sat down as their mother carried the noodles to the table and returned to get the sauce. Thomas watched as the two members of his family ate in utter silence, as though they refused to acknowledge either of them were there at the table. "Mom? Chad?" Thomas tried again in vain to reach out to his family. _

_As they finished their food, Thomas's mother went into the kitchen. Thomas stared at his brother, wondering how he could be so cold toward his mother and why neither of them could see him. That's when he noticed how sickly Chad looked. Thomas and Chad had been similar in a lot of ways, height, weight, attitude, etc. So when Thomas looked at how gaunt Chad's face was it definitely scared him. It wasn't quite as bad as the pictures you see of heavy drug users, but it was noticeable to Thomas. Chad pulled off his sweatshirt and Thomas saw the track marks on his arms: his younger brother was doing drugs. But why? He'd always been a straight arrow, never even drank alcohol, so why would he turn to drugs? A sob from the kitchen brought Thomas out of his own thoughts. He walked into the kitchen to see his mother crying over the sink. She looked broken in a way Thomas had never seen. Something in his mind clicked and he dropped to his knees as he realized, _this is because of me_. _I was kidnapped, no one knew why or where I went. My leaving caused this my family fell apart._ And that's when he saw them, three funeral pamphlets stuck to the bulletin board above the trash. Each had a picture of a member of his family. Kent; his father, Allison and Emily; his two sisters. His despair deepened, something he previously thought wasn't possible._

_Chad got up from the table and looked at his mother. "Bitch." He walked upstairs to needle God knows what into system. What his mother had done was beyond Thomas's imagination. How could his mother be responsible for what had happened to his family? He hadn't been prepared for what happened next. His still crying mother walked over to the computer desk and pulled out a piece of paper and Thomas watched in horror at what she wrote: "I'm sorry. I can't live with the guilt anymore. I blame myself for what happened to Thomas. May God forgive me. – Mary" _

"_No, you can't! Mom, stop!" Regardless of Thomas's screams his mother went out her grizzly task. She walked over to the entryway and pulled the double-barrel shotgun from above the door and put a round in each chamber. Standing front of a picture of the six of them on their last vacation together she ran her hand over the frame, taking in the memory of the happier times. She moved the gun into her mouth and pulled the trigger._

"_NOOO!" As his mother's lifeless body hit the ground in front of him, Thomas broke and cried more than he ever had before. He didn't even notice the door behind him as his brother came over to stand behind him and stare at this mother's lifeless corpse. After a few moments Chad walked around Thomas who stared in shock as his younger brother picked up the shotgun and held it in his hands. Then he walked over to Thomas and handed him the gun._

"_H-How can you see me?"_

"_Because Thomas, this is all your fault."_

"_What?"_

"_You left, and we fell apart. Do us a favor and end it. It's the only way end the suffering."_

_Thomas stared at the gun, but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. He checked the chamber. His mother only got one of the two shots off._

"_Do it, Thomas. End it all so we can have peace." His brother's voice was egging him on and he was listening. What he'd seen in front of him was enough to break anyone. He turned the gun on himself and prepared to do what his brother asked him to do, what he wanted to do._

* * *

"Batman, there's nothing we can do without Manhunter. I thought he'd come back with you from Mars." Stewart was trying to get through to Batman who was currently standing next to a comatose Robin.

"Have you analyzed the toxin?"

"Yes and it you were right, it's a new fear gas based Scarecrow's design."

"Let me see the results."

"Of course." Stewart handed Batman the tablet with the information on the new toxin that had knocked out the entire team.

"And there's something else Batman. When I arrived at the scene there was an armored van driving away from the area. I had Watchtower track it via satellite and pulled the kids out."

"YOU LET HIM ESCAPE?! THAT MADMAN MAY HAVE KILLED THESE KIDS AND YOU LET HIM ESCAPE?!" This is exactly why John Stewart hadn't wanted to piss off Batman. The Dark Knight had dropped the pad upon hearing the last bit of information and pinned the Green Lantern against the wall with his forearm. If his cowl hadn't been on Stewart would have seen the anger in his eyes and even with the cowl it was evident that Batman was on the verge of tearing his head off. Someone had messed with Robin and his team, something that Batman swore to himself he would let happen. He was his father, he couldn't watch his son die. Despite that, there was nothing they could do. The helplessness was eating away at him. He let Stewart go, realizing his mistake.

Massaging his throat, Stewart explained the situation to Batman. "As I was about to explain the analysis of the toxin showed that unless they fight through the hallucinations, they won't wake up. That's why we need Manhunter. M'gann's the only other telepath we've got on hand, but she's in a coma. In addition to the problems with the toxin, a part of the roof collapsed on team. Superboy was able to deflect most of it while Hawkeye contained the explosions and kept them away from the team, but part of the roof landed on Zatanna, the I-Beam hit her square across both legs as she was on the ground at the time. Both her femurs are shattered." Batman's didn't move a muscle at the announcement, but John continued nonetheless. "Even if she wakes up, she's out for at least 7 months with extensive rehab."

Turning to leave, John ran into all the other mentors and relatives who had finally made it up to Watchtower. Plastic Man was still new and trying to get a hold of all the League members had been hard for him. Thankfully, he got the job done before any of the team… _No John, we're not thinking like that today._ He turned around to Batman. "Don't worry Bruce, Robin will make it. His dad is Batman, after all."

The use of his real name didn't even upset the Dark Knight as he faced his fellow member and friend and gave him a nod before he left the room. Just before the doors shut leaving the team and their mentors alone they all, including John, heard a scream from the one bed without anyone standing over it.

"NO! YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!"

* * *

_As he pulled the gun closer to his mouth, Thomas was struck by a haze of memories. Batman giving the team a mission in Gotham, talking to Robin about his codename, struggling to contain the explosions at the warehouse. Finally, Thomas remembered watching as the silver canister of fear gas exploded at the teams feet. All the while his brother was standing over him, goading him into killing himself. "Just do it Thomas, just do it and end the pain."_

_Trying to maintain your grip on reality is not an easy matter and Thomas had enough of his fake-brother's taunting. "NO! YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!" He turned the gun on his brother and pulled the trigger. Instead of being blown away in a bloody mess the body simply vanished in a mist. Thomas blinked several times to be sure of what he saw. He got up and walked over to where his brother last stood. His dead mother vanished next, then the gun. Spinning around trying to figure out what was going on Thomas realized that none of this was real, but right then a fierce pain in Thomas's skull brought him to his knees yet again. As he clutched the sides of his head he screamed out in pain. "AHHHHHHH!"_

* * *

Back in Watchtower's med bay the various league members were on their way to examine Thomas, a.k.a Hawkeye, when he screamed. By the time they reached him, he had bolted up in is bed. Staring around, his eyes landed on the Justice League and he panicked. Flipping out of the bed and tearing out his IV's and EEG leads as he did so, he grabbed a scalpel from the table.

Brandishing the makeshift weapon, he confronted a confused group of adult heroes. "Is this real? Are you real?"

Canary was the first to act. "Yes Thomas, we're real. You were poisoned with fear gas by Scarecrow."

Thomas stared at the rest of the League for a few more seconds before responding. "Well at least you got that part right."

Batman walked over to Thomas. "We need to examine you immediately; something in your blood may help us get the rest of the team out of this. You're the only one to wake up so far."

"Why just me?"

"It's possible your genetically modified biology may have been held some delayed immunity to the toxin. We'll need to draw blood as soon as possible."

"Yeah, go ahead. Take whatever you need. How's the rest of the team?"

When no one responded, Roy came up to Thomas bed. "Aside from everyone being in a coma, they're physically alright. Well, almost anyway."

"Almost?"

"Yeah, about that. Part of an I-Beam hit Zatanna, Superboy nearly had the whole roof, at least that's what we assumed he tried to do, but the I-beam broke both of her femurs. She'll be out of commission for a while."

Thomas put his head back on his pillow. "Damn." He closed his eyes as Batman finished drawing blood. Red Tornado took the vial over to some big machine and Batman turned back to Thomas.

"Now, I want a debrief on everything that happened. Start from the beginning"

"Alright. We got to the target zone without any trouble, even dropped out a few blocks early for a stealth entry. They were six guards we subdued easily without detection. Robin theorized that the overlook in the warehouse was the main office and he and I got into it through the ceiling while the rest of the team got the workers out and took care of the few guards inside. That was the first feeling I got that something was off."

Batman nodded along with Thomas, but still asked. "How so?"

"Well, for a high value target like you said it was, there way too little guards. The tech Robin found in the office while I provided cover pointed to Scarecrow's toxin, also like you mentioned, but not who helped modify the formula. We got all the available intel and Wally placed the explosives on the warehouse to destroy the plant. We were about to exit when Scarecrow himself showed up and the whole team got herded into the building."

"Scarecrow? But he's supposed to be in Arkham! Batman, why the hell didn't we know he got out?" Green Arrow was trying to keep his anger at Batman in check as Thomas recounted the details of the mission.

"Hey GA, mind if I finish up before you guys start fighting?" Thomas's intervention seemed to do the trick, as Oliver backed out of Batman's face. "Anyway, that's when I had Robin send his Watchtower distress signal and we found out that GL would show up just after the bombs would go off. Robin kept Scarecrow talking and he mentioned something about employers."

"Employers?"

"Yes, Batman, employers. And no, he didn't mention who they were. He got out right before the explosions.

"That would be the van that Green Lantern mentioned. I'll have Plastic Man forward me the intel from the tracking. Continue."

"Bats, I got the feeling that the whole thing was a setup. He didn't come right out and say it, but it was like someone wanted us out of the way. Not sure what the plan is exactly."

"I got an idea." A deep voice turned everyone around.

"Connor! How are you awake?" Canary, basically the kid's mother, was stunned to see the young clone awake and lucid.

"Mh, Kryptonian." Even a fear gas induced hallucination wasn't going to make Superboy into a more than a guy of few words.

Trying to keep things on point, Batman interceded. "What did you mean by having an idea about the plan?"

"Right before I passed out I used my super-hearing to listen in on what was going on around me, something Robin told me to try."

Aquaman was a bit confused by the young man's statement. "Robin?"

"Yeah, he said that bad guys do stupid stuff when they think you can't hear or see them so I used my super-hearing and caught a phone call from that Scarecrow guy. Said that the team was out of the way and would be dead soon. He told them they could move on to Phase Two. That's when I blacked out from the gas."

Just then the machine that RT was monitoring the blood in gave a small ding. "Spin cycle done?" Roy's attempt at humor earned a slap on the head from Oliver.

Tornado's robotic voice captured the group's attention. "Batman was correct, Thomas's blood does indeed react differently to the toxin that normal human blood. With this information we should be able to synthesize an antidote, though telepathic intervention may still be necessary."

The group was all smiles at the news, but Batman stood in front of the group. "Tornado, get started on the antidote and keep us apprised of any developments."

"Us, Batman? Where exactly are we going?" GA was honestly confused as to why they couldn't stay with their protégés.

"The scene is already nearly two hours old and we need to pursue the suspects to ascertain what their plan is. I would normally go alone, but this concerns all of you as well. Roy, you will stay behind with Tornado while the rest of the League investigates. If the situation deteriorates, we can be immediately beamed up to Watchtower at a moment's notice, but the League needs to start looking into this now in case the threat is as big as suggested by Hawkeye and Superboy. Superman and Martian Manhunter will join us in the field when they return from Mars." With a swish of his cape, Batman strode out of the room and off towards the control center to be beamed down to Earth. After a quick exchanging of goodbyes, Roy, Connor, and Thomas found themselves alone with the rest of their unconscious teammates.

Thomas slumped back into his bed. "Been a long fucking day."


	14. Recovery

**The telepathic communication returns in this chapter. As last time - [ ] – denotes a mental conversation.**

**Last time on Strange New World (for those too lazy to read the previous chapters):**

"_The scene is already nearly two hours old and we need to pursue the suspects to ascertain what their plan is. I would normally go alone, but this concerns all of you as well. Roy, you will stay behind with Tornado while the rest of the League investigates. If the situation deteriorates, we can be immediately beamed up to Watchtower at a moment's notice, but the League needs to start looking into this now in case the threat is as big as suggested by Hawkeye and Superboy. Superman and Martian Manhunter will join us in the field when they return from Mars." _

_With a swish of his cape, Batman strode out of the room and off towards the control center to be beamed down to Earth. After a quick exchanging of goodbyes, Roy, Connor, and Thomas found themselves alone with the rest of their unconscious teammates. _

_Thomas slumped back into his bed. "Been a long fucking day."_

* * *

**June 5****th  
****Mount Justice  
****11:30 a.m.****  
**

It had indeed been a long day for Thomas. Yesterday, they'd been sent on a mission to Gotham City, facing off against Scarecrow, who'd managed to dose them with a new kind of fear gas before eluding capture when John Stewart showed up. For his part, Thomas had managed to wake up from the disturbing hallucinations on his own thanks to his altered genetic structure. Connor, owing to his Kryptonian DNA, was able to wake up soon after. While the League left to search for Scarecrow and find out his employers plans, Red Tornado and Roy were left behind to treat the rest of the team and administer an antidote derived from Thomas's immunity. Thankfully, the serum was doing its job as the team was slowly starting to regain consciousness one by one.

"Dude, my head hurts." Wally, being a speedster was the first to come out of the coma. Roy, Connor, and Thomas rushed over to his bed to see check on him.

"Yeah, totally not feeling the aster." Robin was up next, and–much to everyone's chagrin—was all too keen on using his own version of the English language.

Artemis stirred in the hospital bed before opening her eyes. Her first sight was Wally, who despite having just woke up, had sprinted to her bedside. After a brief moment, she touched her head. "God, I feel like I got punched by Superman."

"I do as well." Kaldur had also risen from his drug induced state.

All that was left was M'gann and Zatanna, though the latter was going to be quite shocked at her current predicament. The team's resident Martian was next to recover. Connor was standing over her when she awoke.

"Hi." A small smile appeared on her face as she put her hand on Connor's cheek.

Robin had made his way over to Zatanna's bed waiting for her to wake up. Looking at the casts on her legs, he felt anger rising in his chest. He turned to Thomas and Connor.

"What happened to her?"

Red Tornado stepped in, his robotic tones drawing the young acrobat's attention. "Part of the roof broke off when Superboy attempted to stop it from falling on the team. It struck Zatanna who was lying on the ground, shattering both her femur's." Everyone on the team but Connor and Thomas, who already knew, let out a gasp at that revelation. None of them had ever been so seriously injured before on a mission.

A stunned silence overtook the team until they heard a weak voice cry out. "Dad?"

"No Z, you're dad isn't here. I'm sorry." Robin hadn't left Zatanna's bedside and was the first to try to keep her calm. Holding her hand in his, he knew what she must have been seeing in her nightmare. They'd both lost their parents and he knew the hurt all too well. Robin put his head up. "Hey guys, can you give us a few minutes? I'll be out in a few."

* * *

The serum had been quite effective and each of the team was able to walk out of the med bay under their own power, though Red Tornado had tried to get them to stay for further monitoring. Together, they made their way to the training/briefing room. No one spoke for several minutes until Roy got frustrated with the silence.

"So anyone want to talk about what happened?" The team gave him various versions of a look that said, "_Seriously?"_ so he felt the need to explain himself. "What? Canary isn't here and I thought I'd give it a shot, seeing as I'm the only human League member here right now. I know Scarecrow's stuff is pretty messed up, been dosed once myself, you know, so the option is open I guess."

Before anyone could respond to Roy's offer, the doors to the training room opened and Robin walked in. Those sitting rose to greet their teammate as he raised his hand to silence them before anyone could about Zatanna. "She's fine. RT's sedated her; she took the news about her legs pretty hard." Robin hung his head low, determined not to let any tears become visible to the team. He'd just relived his parent's death, then had to try to help Zatanna through the loss of her own. He supposed no one could blame him for crying, but it wasn't something he wanted anyone to see.

Kaldur walked over to friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. With a knowing look in his eyes, he spoke to the youngest of the team. "I understand this is hard. my friend, but we cannot let the past affect us now. Scarecrow believes we were eliminated, we should be thankful he is mistaken. Any news from Batman?"

"Not yet Kaldur, I just contacted him. They've been at the scene for a while now, taking samples of the toxin. A few tried to trace Scarecrow's getaway vehicle. Most of the League is actually on site, not that Batman likes that."

"The whole League's on this? Sweet!" Wally wasn't much for letting the past 24 hours get him down, and knowing the whole Justice League was working on the mission was more than enough to lift his spirits.

"Well then, we should return to the med bay as Red Tornado suggested and get some rest. We will help the League later when we've recovered." Kaldur was the last to leave the training room as he ushered his teammates and friends back towards the place they had just left.

* * *

**Gotham City  
****Site of Scarecrow's encounter with the team  
****11:45 a.m.****  
**

Batman never liked working with others, even after forming the Justice League and expanding it twice. Each of the heroes present was capable, but their presence made him uneasy. He preferred working these kinds of missions on his own, but the team had all but become part of the League, and an attack on them had riled up the whole League. Aside from Tornado and Arsenal, all the members were investigating the incident that had happened in the Batman's own city and they were getting nowhere fast. They'd even recalled John Stewart from his search for Scarecrow's vehicle, given how cold the trail was. Things were not sitting well with Batman.

His instincts proved to be correct because at that exact moment when 18 of the 20 Justice League members were all together a Boom Tube opened up in the middle of ruins of the warehouse. The familiar sound and yellow light was soon followed by the League's old acquaintance, Vandal Savage along with several of his henchman and other various villains.

The ancient villain addressed the crowd of heroes before him. "Well, if this isn't a wonderful sight. All of Earth's heroes investigating the deaths of their young protégés. Your devotion to your fallen comrades is indeed admirable, but it is now your undoing. Goodbye, Justice League."

Flash was fed up with Savage and his gang of villains messing with his nephew and his words were laced with venom. "They aren't as dead as you believe, Savage." Flash saw Savage move towards a device on his wrist and moved quickly to stop him, but was kicked swiftly in the gut by Zoom, his long-time nemesis. Just then, Savage activated said device and a blinding light enveloped each member of the Justice League. Savage then proceeded to place his hand to his ear, activating his communicator.

"Justice League has been neutralized, release their alternates."

A voice on the other end acknowledged the order and a smile crept across Savage's face.

* * *

**Mount Justice  
****1:00 p.m.****  
**

_Recognized: Batman 02, Martian Manhunter 07_

Two of the founding Justice League members emerged from the zeta tubes and walked silently to the computer. Robin and M'gann were working their way to the kitchen when they hear the computer announce their mentor's presence and the changed course to see what news they could offer.

"Uncle J'onn, you're back from Mars!" The teen Martian quickly encompassed Manhunter in a fierce hug. Seeing her uncle didn't happen often anymore, and after what she saw in her nightmare, she didn't want to waste the time they had at that very moment. In fact she was so focused on spending some time with her uncle that she failed to notice that he didn't hug her back.

"M'gann, I am glad you are well. I do not wish to offend, but Batman and I have much work to do. I will join you shortly."

"Oh, ok. I'll just wait for Robin to finish up with Batman then and we'll get out of the way."

Robin, however, did notice Manhunter's coldness and thought it odd that J'onn would be so distant from his niece after what she went through. Shrugging it off, he turned his attention to his own mentor.

"Hey, any news on Scarecrow?"

"No." The crisp response had been about what he'd expected from Batman, but somehow it seemed rushed.

"Well, I'm going to head to the kitchen. Keep me posted, I'll see you later."

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why would you see me later?"

"Oh I don't know, for patrol?"

"Right, sorry, forgot about that. See you later then." Batman never once looked up from the computer during his quick exchange with Robin.

Robin turned to leave when all of a sudden a dark and terrible though hit him. He mentally called. [M'gann!]

[Yeah Robin?]

[Do a full mind read on Batman, now!]

[But I thought you said I shouldn't do that?]

[Doesn't matter, right now I need to know what's wrong with Batman. He never forgets about patrol, ever.]

[Aren't you overreacting a bit?]

[Trust me M'gann, just do it. I know Batman, and something is wrong here.]

[Fine.] M'gann stopped and focused on Batman who they had left in the other room with Martian Manhunter. Her eyes widen as she felt something odd and relayed it to Robin. [I'm detecting some form of mind control, but without knowing the source I can't break it. Who would control them like that?]

Robin visibly blanched at M'gann's report of the situation. As they were about to turn to subdue their mentors the zeta tubes whirred to life.

_Recognized: Superman 01, Aquaman 04, Wonder Woman 03_

[M'gann, what about them?]

Concentrating yet again M'gann gasped in shock as she felt the same telepathic presence.

[Robin, this is bad.]

[Call the team over the mental link. We need to leave the cave now!]

M'gann nodded before focuses on sending a team-wide message. [TEAM! Evacuate the cave now!]

[Damn M'gann, what the hell is going on?] Thomas had never quite gotten used to the mental link and recovering from fear gas exposure wasn't making it any more pleasant.

Robin quickly cut in, trying to expedite their escape. [The League is under mind control. We need to go now before they realize we know and attack.]

[Again? Didn't we stop the same thing a few months ago?] Artemis was certainly none too pleased about cleaning up another of the Leagues messes.

[This feels different; something is simply subduing their minds telepathically. I can't disconnect them without knowing what the source is without running the risk of killing them.]

[Oh, well then, yeah. I guess we should go. Connor, get Zatanna to the bio ship and bring a wheelchair. M'gann, try to get what information you can out of Batman's mind without giving yourself away. Probing your uncle is out of the question. Everyone else meet me in the cargo bay. If there's time, we'll bring the extra armory from the truck with us on the bio-ship. Move!] No one objected to Thomas's quick orders as they went about their tasks. In no time, the supplies had been placed aboard the bio-ship and the team was ready to go. M'gann, who been concentrating on reading Batman, let out a startled gasp.

Kaldur looked to the team's telepath. "What is it?"

M'gann looked shaken and confused. "Robin, isn't Batman really Bruce Wayne?"

"Yeah, you found that out a few months back, why?" The Boy Wonder couldn't believe that M'gann would forget something that big.

"Because that man wasn't Bruce Wayne."

"Who was he?"

"Thomas Wayne, Jr."

* * *

In the Mount Justice control room the League members had assembled in front of the monitors as Vandal Savage's visage appeared on screen. "Ultraman, Report."

"The team is alive as you believed. What are your orders?" An alarm sounded just after the Kryptonian finished speaking. After assessing the situation he turned to the monitor again. "It appears the team has left the mountain, though we do not believe they are aware of the situation."

"Very well, pursue and dispose of them."

After Vandal Savage cut communications, Martain Manhunter's eyes glowed bright red. Hovering off the ground several inches he began to visibly shake. As this happened, each of the others screamed out in agony with their hands pressed against their temples. Slumping to the ground they each were pushed to the edge of unconsciousness, but Manhunter recovered in time to stop that from happening. Helping each member to their feet, they shared a knowing glance. Superwoman looked at each member and smirked.

"The Crime Syndicate has found a new playground, gentlemen. Let's get started."

* * *

**If you're feeling a little confused, I would suggest looking up the Crime Syndicate on Wikipedia. I explain a little of their origins, but if you have no frame of reference then things might get a little weird.**


	15. Revelation

_In the Mount Justice control room the League members had assembled in front of the monitors as Vandal Savage's visage appeared on screen. "Ultraman, report."_

"_The team is alive as you believed. What are your orders?" An alarm sounded just after the Kryptonian finished speaking. After assessing the situation he turned to the monitor again. "It appears the team has left the mountain, though we do not believe they are aware of the situation."_

"_Very well, pursue and dispose of them."_

_After Vandal Savage cut communications, Martain Manhunter's eyes glowed bright red. Hovering off the ground several inches he began to visibly shake. As this happened each of the others screamed out in agony with their hands pressed against their temples. Slumping to the ground, they each were pushed to the edge of unconsciousness, but Manhunter recovered in time to stop that from happening. Helping each member to their feet they shared a knowing glance. Superwoman looked at each member and smirked._

"_The Crime Syndicate has found a new playground, gentlemen. Let's get started."_

* * *

**June 6th– 4:30 p.m.  
Mount Justice**

Thomas Wayne, Jr., Owlman in his own universe, simply nodded as Vandal Savage's ordered them to kill the young heroes. Up until that point he and his partners in crime had allowed Savage to believe he controlled them simply to gain access to this universe's Justice League's computers. The plan had thus far gone off without a hitch. Once Vandal ceased communication, J'edd J'arkus removed the telepathic link which Savage had foolishly thought would hold the League's doppelgangers from another reality. He had wanted to get rid of this world's heroes some time ago but had failed and was attempting the same strategy, except with a different group of individuals.

"Seeing as how you're so eager Princess, why don't you take care of the children? The rest of us will gather further intelligence to prepare for our takeover."

"Finally, some action! But do I really need to keep wearing this ridiculous outfit?" Superwoman gestured to her costume that this world associated with Wonder Woman. This Diana was not one for hiding her own identity and didn't like Owlman's plan.

"Yes, for my plan to work we need to remove all criminal competition as our heroic counterparts. _Then_ we can ditch the costumes." Owlman never once paused his work on the computer during his conversation.

"Fine dear, but you had better move quickly. It won't take me too long to deal with the brats."

"Do not underestimate them. Keep in mind our counterparts in this world deemed them worthy enough to join them. They should not be taken lightly."

"Please, they're just kids." Scoffing at Owlman's overly cautious nature, Superwoman shot off through the open cargo bay doors. _Why would our counterparts ever think that CHILDREN could stand with them?_ Even with all her speed in the skies she didn't get very far thanks to M'gann activating the camouflage system after leaving the cave.

"Owlman, any satellite assistance on their whereabouts?"

Shifting screens in Mount Justice Owlman's fingers furiously worked on the keypads. "Negative Princess." Shaking his head, he realized his mistake. "The ship they escaped in has cloaking technology according to League records. There is no way to track it and by now the children have removed any tracking devices on them. According to my doppelgangers records his protégé is quite devious when it comes to pulling disappearing acts."

Superwoman was quickly growing frustrated with the situation. "Then how are we supposed to get rid of them?"

"We don't, for now at least. Return to the base while we formulate a plan. I think it might be time to eliminate a threat from your homeland. It seems this universes version of you is much more amicable to her people considering she didn't obliterate them herself."

Superwoman smirked to herself as she remembered the thrill of battle against her Amazon sisters. They put up a great fight, but in the end she slaughtered every single one of them; even her mother couldn't escape her fury as each of their souls was sent to the Underworld.

"Very well Owlman, I'll be back soon and you had better have a plan by then."

* * *

While Superwoman was returning to the cave the team was safely aboard the bio-ship on their way away from their home. Only Robin and M'gann really had any clue what was going on, but thankfully the team had listened to Robin's order as soon as he gave it or else they would have all been easily captured.

"Uh Rob? Why exactly did we have to leave the cave like that?" Wally was certainly a little confused and hoping his best friend could provide some answers.

Robin continued to sit in his chair and stare off in the clear skies around them. He dropped his head into his hands before answering his teammate and friend. "Sorry KF, I know we left in a hurry. Here's what I know. Batman and Manhunter showed up through the zeta tube and got on the computer. Based on how they reacted to M'gann and me I got a hunch that she should do a mind check on Batman. Don't ask me how I knew, it was just a gut reaction, but I was right. M'gann sensed they were under some form of mind control, but the worst part is what M'gann found out right before we left. This Batman's name is Thomas Wayne, Jr., but that's not Batman's name. Whoever was at the cave was NOT Batman and it stands to reason that aren't here for good intentions. We need to lay low for a while to see what their next move is and gather more information before attacking."

"We could always use one of my safe houses." Roy, who had remained silent, decided to voice his opinion. "Since I started going solo the League didn't exactly like my style of "justice" anymore and only keep me on the reserves. So I had to set up my own networks outside of the Justice League systems. There's also the issue of RT, considering he didn't get on the ship with us when we left."

The team sat silently for a few moments as they digest Roy's idea and waited for someone to speak. Most of them had heard about Roy's falling out with the League due to his slightly more violent methods, but he never really talked about it. Since he was still allowed to access the cave, there had never been a real need to discuss it. On top of that there hadn't been time to even realize that they'd left their long time den mother back at the cave with what the team rightfully, though unknowingly, assumed was an evil Justice League.

Kaldur was the first to speak. "I agree with Roy. We will go to his nearest safe house and stay beneath the radar. We should perhaps attempt to covertly contact the other reserve Leaguers and inform them of the situation. They would be able to provide some assistance if it is needed."

Robin nodded in agreement. "I'm with Kaldur, and we should also try to find out how this happened. I'll try hacking into Watchtower remotely to piece together what happened. Roy, tell M'gann how to get to your safe house."

As no one else offered any ideas Roy went over M'gann and talked through the location of the safe house. In just under 30 minutes the team had arrived at his New York location. Leaving the ship in camouflage mode they unloaded their supplies and surveyed what weapons Roy had on hand in his stash. No one really spoke to each other as the current situation had thrown all of them for a loop. Roy and Artemis fine-tuned their bows and repacked their quivers. Wally, M'gann and Connor were sitting in front of the TV watching the news. Zatanna joined the trio, though she was still confined to her wheelchair. Robin, Kaldur and Thomas had gone back to the roof and were holed up in still cloaked bio-ship while the Boy Wonder worked his magic on his wrist computer trying to figure out what was exactly going on. It was almost six in the afternoon when the 13 year-old suddenly rose from his seat up from his seat.

"Kaldur, get the team together. We'll meet in Roy's kitchen." Kaldur quickly radioed the team while three made their way from the ship down to Roy's apartment turned safe house.

"So Rob, not that I mind everyone in my kitchen, but is there a reason you called this little pow-wow?" Roy, even though he had volunteered his place, was less than enthused about everyone messing with his stuff. Especially Wally, who had eaten nearly all the food that the archer kept on hand in case he needed to crash here for a night before heading home.

"Yeah, there is actually." Robin was used to getting asked pointless questions, though he'd in vain hoped the people who'd known him the longest would maybe get past the fact that they were being bossed around by a 13 year old. "I've been reviewing satellite data since we got here and I think I found something."

"Wait, hold on. Why satellite data?"

"Wally, would you shut up and let me talk?" The speedster shut his mouth and Robin continued. "I had a hunch based on what M'gann found in Batman's mind that these people aren't from our world. Considering we know that one other member of our team is from another world as well, it seems reasonable that there are any number of possible worlds in existence." At those words several pairs of eyes found themselves settling on their newest member. Thomas fidgeted unconsciously as Robin elaborated. "Batman figured out a point of origin for Thomas and found an energy signature that indicated a rip in the space time continuum. That same energy signature was detected in Washington D.C."

"So you're saying that whoever brought me here may have brought them here as well?"

"Thomas, I didn't say that, but it is a possibility."

Thomas turned to the team. "Ok then, I say we go to the site and see if there is anything to find. It's the only lead we've got so I say we go. Any objections?"

No one said anything for several seconds waiting for an order. Kaldur stepped forward in front of the group. "I agree with Thomas's plan. While we were in the ship I managed to get a hold of Ted Kord; the Blue Beetle. He is the Leagues scientific expert after Flash, so if anyone can help us with the situation it is him. I'll inform him to meet at the Washington D.C. location. Load up the ship. We leave in 5." In a flurry of motion the team was assembled in the bio-ship and en route to D.C.

* * *

"We have arrived at the designated coordinates." M'gann announced the team's arrival and opened the rear hatch for them to investigate the area. The signature Robin had detected had come from an abandoned office building in Anacostia. Zatanna stayed in the ship while everyone else piled out and began surveying the area. There were several large devices along with a few incubation pods along one of the walls.

"Well whoever was here cleared out recently." Robin had pulled out his flashlight and was examining one of the consoles. "I'll see if there's a power source."

Thomas had noticed the incubation pods and stood in front of the most intact of the bunch. He was suddenly thankful that whoever helped him escape had wiped his memory of his weeks of captivity. Connor walked over to Thomas and stood beside him for several minutes before speaking. "I was grown in one like this." Knowing the significance of Connor's statement Thomas didn't reply as the two just stood there reflecting on their lives. Connor thought about his hatred of Cadmus, while Thomas thought about how much his life had changed and what he'd been forced to leave behind.

As the team searched the area, no one noticed a White Martian until it de-camouflaged right behind Thomas and Connor. Superboy was the first to notice it, and given his proclivity for smashing things threw the alien into the far wall. He quickly advanced on the Martian and pinned him against the rubble. "Who are you?!" By this point the team had surrounded Superboy.

"Please, I am not here to fight you."

Robin walked up to the Martian after his response. "Then why exactly are you here?" The Boy Wonder nodded to Superboy, who then lay off the Martian and allowed him to catch his breath.

Bringing himself to his full height the Martian answered curtly. "My name is unimportant. What is important is that I am here to help you."

"Why would you help us?"

"Because of him." A long white arm gestured toward Thomas whose look of shock was mirrored by the rest of the team.

"Why – Why me?"

With a heavy sigh the Martian answered. "I regret to say that I am chiefly responsible for your current condition."

Much of the team audibly gasped at this revelation, but Thomas was quick to anger. "What?!" He threw himself forward and, with his shoulder, knocked the alien to the ground. "Why? Talk or I make you burn!" Thomas's hands lit up red as though ready to burst into flame.

"I was the scientist who altered your DNA and cloned you. I –uh!" Thomas lost it when the Martian began speaking again and delivered a blow to the scientist's stomach.

"Thomas! Control your anger! He is TRYING to tell us what happened." Kaldur had jumped in front of the hot-headed hero to keep him from harming their only viable lead.

It took several deep breaths before Thomas's hands returned to normal. "Fine, but he had better make it quick."

The Martian struggled to his full height. "I was unaware that you were kidnapped."

"How could you NOT know!" Thomas was quickly becoming angry at the Martian for a second time.

"I was brought in after you were at the facility. When I found out how you came to be in the lab I helped you escape by putting your mind into one of the clones, but I removed the memories of the experimentation. I did not want to cause you further harm, but I see now that the experiments done to you were a secondary objective."

"I'd say what they did was a little more than secondary."

"It is true. Vandal Savage had been working on cross-dimensional travel for some time. He discovered a world, yours, that had an identical human population with the same genetic tampering that this world suffers from. Only on your world there were no superheroes to get in the way. They began research trials to find people in the population whose genetic defect would be easiest to reverse. You were apparently a prime target."

As interesting as Wally found this new information there was a more pressing concern. "Why didn't they just go over there? I mean, they could have ruled the whole world."

"I believe they were either unable to maintain a large enough wormhole or that doing so would draw the attention of the Justice League. Regardless of what was done to Thomas, the real goal was to test the device that brought you here. They were clearly successful."

Thomas was still boiling with anger, but it subsided as the Martian explained the situation. "WELL THAT-that actually makes sense! Well, shit. Sorry for hitting you, I guess."

"I understand your anger. Since your escape I have been on the run, but I have been monitoring for further universal breaches. One such anomaly occurred just yesterday, which is why I came here. There were actually two breaches that happened simultaneously in separate locations. One was in Gotham, the other occurred here. It would appear that my scientific benefactor replaced your Justice League with a version more suited to their interests."

That last little bit confirmed the team's suspicions about the alternate Justice League, but did little to ease their doubt and confusion. Wally, the team's resident nerd, spoke up next. "So would you happen to know anything that might help us send this evil League back? And what was this about a benefactor?"

"I was given orders by Vandal Savage directly, though it appeared that he was not the man in charge. Someone else was giving him orders. Or perhaps they were partners. I truthfully do not know. As for your first question I do not know how to travel universes myself, but during my escape I managed to copy the hard drive off of the computers. There are schematics for a universe bridge within. I hope it is enough to help and allow me to begin to atone for what I have done. All I wanted to accomplish was the undoing of the damage my people caused yours millennia ago." The Martian handed Robin the hard drive and hung his head as though wallowing in shame.

"Well, that outta help." A new voice, the one of Ted Kord, joined the team. Kord, known to the world as the current Blue Beetle, had arrived only moments before. "Hopefully I should be able to rig up a transporter to get one to the other side and bring the League home. Thanks!"

Beetle quickly departed for the bio-ship as per Robin's suggestion where he began pouring over the data. The team stayed behind to decide what to do with the Martian. Aqualad did not want to decide his fate and left the decision up to Thomas. "Thomas, my friend, what should we do with him?"

Thomas had slowly worked his way away from the alien during the conversation and stood at the back of the group with everyone's eyes on him. For his part he simply stared at the paled skinned alien before speaking in a low tone. "First I have a question; can you use that technology to send me home?"

Another sigh escaped the Martian's mouth. "I am truly sorry, but I do not believe that I can. I never knew what universe you were taken from and it is not the one that the Justice League was sent to. Those particular points of data were stored in the computer, but your universe's data was never known to me."

Thomas hung his head and nearly dropped to his knees. He had gotten so close to going home, only to have it ripped away from him like a bad joke.

"I can, however, tell you that after you were first cloned a version of you was sent back through the portal to test the device for a second time. I do not know who gave the order to do so, but at the least your family was able to move on. I regret that it was without you."

This news did finally cause Thomas to lose his footing and he found himself on his knees against the wall. His eyes were tightly shut as tears threatened to spring loose. He struggled mightily to control his breathing and after several minutes had begun to calm himself for the moment. Knowing that his family was oblivious to his existence and that he could never see them again was a significant blow to his morale, though he would recover in time, but how much time would remain to be seen.

* * *

The team, along with Blue Beetle, piled into the bio-ship and flew off towards another of Roy's safe houses when Robin quickly scrambled to put the news on the bio-ship's monitors. The face of Superman quickly filled the screen and the young heroes watched with rapt attention.

"People of Earth," The Kryptonian's voice filled the speakers. "for too long we have allowed heinous and murderous scum to roam free. When we catch them they are simply set free by a broken justice system. This will happen no more."

Superman stepped back from the camera to reveal the members of the Royal Flush gang behind him. Batman, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, and Flash, or at least their villainous counterparts, whom the world was unaware of, were standing behind each member. Superman maneuvered behind the fifth member and his eyes glowed red, before continuing his speech.

"Criminals of the world beware, for we will no longer tolerate your actions. Failure to heed this warning will result in death."

The hero's faces were filled with horror as the Royal Flush Gang was murdered on live TV. Superman had melted their leader, Batman decapitated the female. Flash cut another into small pieces faster than the camera could pick up his motions. It looked like the gang member just fell apart on the spot. Wonder Woman, snapped the neck of another member while Manhunter phased his hand through the chest of the final man and ripped his heart out for all to see.

"Jesus Christ!"

"What the fuck!"

These were but the more tame expressions to leave the mouths of the team. They knew the score, though the world did not. The world and the people of Earth now thought that the Justice League had gone rogue. The younger team members were too stunned to even react to what they had seen after their outbursts. Thomas quickly took charge of the situation.

"Alright, listen up! Shit just got real and we need to act now! We're going to need allies. Kaldur you'll need to go to Atlantis, you're the only one that can make it down there and you need to warn them about Aquaman. See if you can get us any reinforcements as well. We'll drop Kord off with Roy in New York before heading to _Themyscira._ Robin, do you know where that is?"

"Yeah, Batman had me memorize the coordinates, but why there?"

"Well I couldn't think of better allies for taking on an evil Superman and Wonder Woman than an army of Amazons could you?"

"No I guess not."

"Wait, so we're going to the Amazon homeland? Sweet! An island of beautiful women, most of who have probably never even seen a man! This is going to be so awesome!"

Artemis simply glared at the young speedster. "Which is exactly why when we get there you are going to stay on the ship with Superboy, Robin and Thomas. M'gann, Zatanna, and I will go talk to them, though she'll need to use the wheelchair. Men aren't allowed on the island anyway and I don't need you disrespecting them with your stupidity! Besides, there is one more thing we need to do. Robin, you should find the nearest television broadcast tower. We need to let the people know that they aren't dealing with our Justice League any more. Things could get ugly real fast and they need to know the truth."

"On it, what are we going to say?"

"I won't be the one talking. That'll be you Boy Wonder. You're the most well-known of all of us and the people will listen if you tell them the situation. I'm a relative nobody to the public, so you're the only logical choice. Better get it right the first time though; because once we do this the faux-League will know where we broadcast from."

"Ok, got it!"

The team sat in silence until they reached New York and dropped of Roy and Blue Beetle who would start building the bridge device right away. Before going to the broadcast tower M'gann dropped Kaldur off over water so he could get a head start on getting some desperately needed help from Atlantis. Having Queen Mera on their side in a fight would help the team at the very least neutralize the evil Aquaman. Once at the tower Robin quickly hacked in and set up the cameras.

"Hello world. As you know I'm Robin, partner to Batman for the last four years. What you saw the Justice League do today was truly awful and I'm sorry you had to see it. But you need to know that that was NOT the Justice League. They've been replaced, but I can't tell you how or why. What is most important is that I and the team standing behind me are going to get the real League back and kick these phonies' butts. Goodbye, Robin out."

Robin quickly cut the feed and Miss Martian sped the ship away from New York off toward the distant island of Themyscira, they just didn't think that Wonder Woman's doppelganger would have a similar, more murderous, idea.


	16. Not so Paradise Island

**June 7  
Onboard the Bioship – Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean  
9:30 a.m.**

After dropping off Aqualad near the island of Bermuda the team sat in silence as they headed across the Atlantic Ocean for the Mediterranean Sea. Robin had been hesitant to give Miss Martian the exact location and simply said that Batman didn't want him unnecessarily giving out the coordinates to Themyscira and since he could pilot the bio-ship to the island once they got closer he didn't have to tell M'gann how to get there. The trip had been silent for the better part of an hour by the time Wally, who had uncharacteristically remained quiet throughout, spoke up. "So tell me again why we're going to Themyscira? Don't get me wrong, I like remote islands full of beautiful women as much as the next guy (Artemis quickly slapped the speedster behind his head), but aren't men, or any outsiders for that matter, not allowed? I seem to remember Wonder Woman making that quite clear the one time I asked her about the island."

Thomas just stared out the bio-ship window before replying. "Wally, I hate to break it to you, but you're not going down to the island. For that matter neither Connor nor I will be going. Only Artemis, M'gann and Zatanna will. They're still outsiders, but the fact that they are not guys might help the situation a little…maybe. And if we can't get them to help we can at least warn them that there is an evil version of their royalty running around who might come looking for them, that's got to count for something."

The team exchanged a series of quick glances before resting their gazes on Robin who had stayed silent in the front of the ship after giving M'gann the coordinates. This action didn't escape the eldest among them. "Hey, if someone else has got a plan I would love to hear it! That includes you to, Robin! If you've got another idea I seriously want to hear it. You've got more experience than nearly all of us put together so, if anyone should be leading, it should probably be you considering Aqualad is a little too far under the sea to handle the responsibility."

Robin turned to face the team and Thomas. "Fine then, I don't particularly like the plan. It's not that it's bad; I'm just not feeling the aster with this whole situation. I don't like us putting all our eggs in one basket by having the whole team go to Themyscira." Sighing, the Boy Wonder continued. "But Kaldur signed off on it and I have no other ideas on what to do whilst we wait for Kord to figure out how to get to the other universe and get our Justice League back. And I really do don't like waiting around, so if worse comes to worse and we need to actually fight I suppose we do worse than ask the Amazons."

"Well….alright then. And for the record all our eggs aren't sitting in the Paradise Island basket. I've got Roy and Kord working their contacts as League members to scrounge up some allies. They've got plenty of people to work with since they're both reserve League members. Plus Roy's got some contacts in the criminal world-"

"You mean my sister don't you?"

"Yes, I do Artemis. And before any of you start on the whole 'she's a villain thing' need I remind you that there is an evil version of our League trying to take over? I doubt the Big Bads of this world are going to stand for that, probably view it as them muscling in on the criminal underworld. So Cheshire is going to dig up some support if she can, and at the very least she'll be on our side when everything goes down. She did leave the Shadows after you're little meet and greet on Santa Prisca before I got here though so she's going to have to cash in a lot of chips. Any other questions or random outbursts that probably won't help get anything done? None? Good."

When the silence returned Thomas was glad the mini confrontation was at an end as they team sailed silently toward Themyscira. He didn't need to have a full scale argument in the middle of a crisis situation as big as the one they were facing.

* * *

**Themyscira – 10:45 a.m.**

Cassie Sandsmark had had a rough morning, probably the roughest morning she'd had since moving to the island two years ago at her half-sister Diana's request. Despite having been born to a human mother and living in the world of Man, Diana had been able to convince Queen Hippolyta to let her live on the island to be trained in the ways of the Amazon. While Diana's word had supposedly enabled her to come here, Cassie always suspected that Hippolyta only allowed it because she was the half-human daughter of Zeus.

Princess Diana herself was also a daughter of Zeus and took an immediate liking to her much younger sister upon finding out her existence several years ago. Even before Cassie moved to the island the Amazon would visit her; living in Man's World as a hero grew quite lonely for the warrior and having a sister seemed to fill a void in her life, until her mother granted her permission to return to Themyscira. Diana had brought outsiders to the island only a few months after she left and her mother was furious and banished her from the island, although after two years she was finally allowed to return. That was when she made the plea that Cassie should be allowed to train on the island as an Amazon. Queen Hippolyta agreed and Cassie had been living here and training since she was 12.

While Cassie greatly missed her home life she was eternally grateful to Diana. Thanks to her older sister she was shown a life she could only have ever dreamed about. She wasn't quite up to Wonder Woman's standard in terms of powers or training, but Cassie hoped one day that she'd get to become a hero like her sister, though days like this made that possibility seem very far off in the future. With Wonder Woman off on some mission the training fell to several other Amazons and Queen Hippolyta herself. The morning had been quite rigorous and brutal. Starting at the crack of dawn, Cassie had been giving flight training, followed by hand to hand combat against several armed opponents. While the future Wonder Girl, as she liked to think of herself, was good she wasn't good enough to beat a team of Amazons in combat quite yet, they were still more skilled in battle than she was as the numerous bruises on her arms from attempting (usually unsuccessfully) to block their strikes would attest. She had the flight, strength, and the other abilities her sister did, but Cassie was quickly figuring out that there was a lot more to it than just the powers.

For right now the Queen had allowed Cassie some time to rest and meditate, though she took the last part as more a suggestion than an order, she simply took the time to walk to her favourite hill on the coast and look out to sea. Every time she came out here she felt more at peace with the choice she had made to live a life on Themyscira, cut off from the rest of the world. She missed it greatly, but hoped to return one day when she was ready to follow in her sister's footsteps and become a hero. For now she was content just watching the tide rolling on yet another beautiful day on the island. She sat on the ground with her legs pulled up to her chest for about half an hour before looking up at the sun. Cassie stood up and was about to turn back toward the training ground when out of the corner of her eye she saw something, or someone flying out of the sun. Cassie stopped and stared as the silhouette of the figure got larger and larger as it approached the island.

Suddenly, Cassie recognized the figure and smiled outwardly before running to the edge of the cliff to greet her. "Diana! Over here!"

Hearing Cassie, the figure stopped mid-air, floating several feet above the ground and staring down at the young blonde as though she had never seen her before. Her failure to respond caught the young girl off guard; usually Diana was quite warm towards her. Not that Cassie took the time to notice. She saw that Diana was wearing a different outfit than her normal uniform; the red, white, and blue had been swapped with black and gold. Cassie couldn't help thinking, _I might have to borrow those colors, I kind of like them._ The royal tiara Diana normally sported was also gone as the princess's hair hung unhindered. All these things put together were making Cassie uneasy about the situation.

"Uh, Diana? Mind telling me what's going on?"

Upon hearing Cassie's question Superwoman smiled to herself: _This foolish child thinks me to be her sister. She'll be the first that I kill._Superwoman floated down toward Cassie, which worked to put the young teen at ease. Just as Cassie relaxed Superwoman sprung forward into the air again and caught Cassie with a vicious right hand to the face, sending the young girl rolling over 100 feet down the hill toward the training ground. Seeing the damage she had caused, Superwoman sped off toward the girl to finish her off before moving on to destroy the rest of the Amazons. They were a threat to her power and they all had to be killed by her hand; just like she had done in her own world all those years ago.

* * *

**Bio-ship – Themyscira  
10:50 a.m.**

Onboard the bio-ship, the team was just reaching the island when the monitors picked up the fight on the coast. The team watched as Superwoman sucker-punched an Amazon girl no older than them well over one hundred feet back inland. The seconds ticked slowly as the teens waited for someone to come up with a plan. They hadn't expected to be beaten to the island by the bad guys. Robin was the first to take action.

"Superboy, Hawkeye, and Kid Flash get down there and keep her busy. Nothing I've got on me is going to help against this evil Wonder Woman so I'll head with the others to the island's main temple to see if we can get some help. Keep her busy until we get back."

Superboy and Kid Flash just nodded, glad to be given something to do besides sit in the ship like the original plan. Hawkeye was getting up to leave, but wanted to let Robin have a piece of his mind.

"We shouldn't be splitting up like this. As a team we could take her and keep her down. It'd be one less bad guy to take down in the end."

"Thomas; I get that, but we can't just start fighting in the middle of Themyscira without telling the Queen. I doubt she'd like it if all of us just started blowing stuff up on her island without her knowledge. Artemis, Zatanna and M'gann will go talk to her whilst I pilot the ship with the weapons hot just in case anymore of the faux-Justice League show up for the party. Now shut up and go!"

With a nod Thomas hooked on his safety line while Wally did the same. Connor stood ready for the floor to open up beneath them. M'gann slowed the ship to a hover and the three slipped quietly onto the battlefield below.

* * *

_Holy crap, what the heck is going on? _Cassie flipped herself over and shook her head to clear the cobwebs. She was still seeing spots when she scrambled to her feet and wiped the copious amounts of grass and dirt from her clothes. The blow from the woman whom she thought was Diana had left quite a trail of destruction on the ground. Still dusting herself off, she didn't even notice her half-sister flying in from the side and delivering yet another crushing blow, this time to her right kidney. The pain from the strike caused the teen to fall to the ground in agony. She'd never been hit that hard in her life. None of the Amazons who had been training her, or any Amazon for that matter, could match Diana's strength or ability in combat. Clutching her side while lying in the dirt she looked skyward to look into her sister's eyes as Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazons, reached back to strike the death blow. Cassie's eyes widened in fear as she asked her assailant;

"Why?"

As Diana shifted her weight forward to land the strike Cassie shut her eyes, not wishing to look into the eyes of her sister as she killed her. She had expected a painful, but quick passing. What she heard instead was a primal yell, one that seemingly came from nowhere. This unexpected sound forced Cassie's eyes to look up just in time to see a boy, clad in a black t-shirt, jeans and boots rushing in and catching Diana off-guard with a hard shoulder charge that sent her reeling backwards nearly 50 feet. A yellow blur came and stopped next to her, offering its hand before speaking.

"Hey beautiful, need a hand?"

She grasped the stranger's gloved hand and raised herself off ground, still clutching her side in pain. With horror she quickly released the hand and backed away in confusion from the two new arrivals. They were men! _They aren't allowed, how did they even get here?_ Cassie stood dumbfounded and was about to ask the questions which were racing through her mind, when Superwoman recovered from Superboy's blow and charged back into the fight. Just before she reached the group a wall of flame appeared between them, cutting off the angry Amazon's assault.

Diana halted just before the fire wall and took stock of her opponents. "You three stand no chance against me."

Superboy repeated his assault, trying to pummel the Amazon into submission, but she was ready for the half-Kryptonian. Side-stepping his initial strike, she caught him off balance, and in quick succession delivered a series of blows to his abdomen followed by a quick and strong uppercut. With Superboy helpless in the air she twisted around and sent a kick into his stomach. The momentum from the kick sent Superboy flying towards the middle of the island, where he would pose no threat to her until he recovered and jumped back to the fight.

After Superboy, Wally attempted to speed in behind her, but she anticipated his move. Diana was no slouch in speed herself, though admittedly not as fast as any speedster she was more than capable of dealing with Kid Flash. A quick arm bar sent the young red-head sprawling forward where he landed in a heap, massaging his sternum, which had mostly likely cracked from the hit. It was going to make breathing difficult, let alone running. Until he healed over the next few hours he was effectively down for the count. Superwoman rounded back toward her third target, but found no one where her enemy had been. In frustration she screamed out.

"We know your skills and tactics! You cannot hope to defeat us, give up now and you may yet live!"

She whirled around violently, hoping to catch a glimpse of her enemy. The only response that Superwoman received was a flaming fist, catching her square in the jaw just as she turned into it. As quickly as it hit her it dissipated into thin air.

"Bet you didn't know about that now did you? GL's been working with me to make constructs out of the flames. See I haven't been around that long, so you pretty much have got next to squat on me, not like the others."

Thomas appeared from behind a large rock to square off from his opponent while he had Cassie retreat to the inner island to get help from the Amazons. While she could fly, her encounter with Superwoman would undoubtedly slow her down. He needed to stall.

"It doesn't matter you puny mortal! I have a major advantage over you and the other two, flight." With that Diana soared upward, holding herself steady roughly 15 feet above Thomas's head.

"Wrong again." Superwoman's eyes widened in shock as Thomas shot flames from his hands and feet creating enough lift to shoot into the sky and reach eye-level with the Amazon. "I watched _Iron Man_the other night and thought, 'What the hell?' So I experimented a little and now I can fly!"

"What is this _Iron Man_?"

"Oh it's this awesome movie from a few years ago, but probably doesn't exist in your retarded ass world so I guess it's irrelevant, but I was working on getting my 'flame on' _Human Torch_ style, but one flame out later and I was naked in the training room with Artemis. Let's just say things were awkward around her and Wally for a little while."

"ENOUGH! Why do you persist with this nonsense?"

Getting her to talk meant she had slightly lowered her defenses. It was the only chance Thomas really had, given that she had superior strength and maneuverability in the sky. He couldn't hope to win and with help yet to arrive he did the only thing her could: Attack and run like hell. While simultaneously talking to Superwoman he brought his hands closer together and with a mighty push threw a sustained blast of fire towards Diana, sending her back and blinding her for just a moment, just long enough for him to boost the output from his flame and push as hard as he could toward the inner section of island. _If I can just get to the team with her on my tail, I can get help and take her down. Plus, seeing an evil version of her daughter in action might persuade the Queen to help fight._

Just as he reached the center of the island he felt something grab his ankles, stopping him in his tracks, 50 feet from the ground. The force pulled him backward until it flipped him over and grabbed him by the neck. Superwoman's face was only inches away from Thomas's when she spoke.

"Why do you run little man? You cannot hope to win."

Thomas managed to choke out a response. "Sometimes you got to run to fight another day."

"But why fight in the first place?"

"Right now I fight to kick your sorry Amazonian ass, seems good enough for me." Insulting her heritage only angered her more and in response to Thomas's persistent defiance she twirled, gaining speed before throwing Thomas swiftly down to the ground below.

_Shit,_was the only thought running through Thomas's head as he hurtled to the ground below. Unless he slowed himself down he was going to smack into the ground at an extremely high velocity; the League never did get around to helping him found out the limits of his abilities so survival was a toss-up at this point. As a last resort, he immediately rotated his body so that he was falling feet first, putting his arms out away from his body and blasted as much focused flame at the ground as he could muster. Right away he could tell it was working as he felt his speed decreasing. He was still going too fast for a smooth landing and crashed through the stone ceiling to the central temple, right in the middle of Queen's meeting with Artemis, M'gann and Zatanna. His impact threw everything into chaos with stone falling all around, causing those inside to find cover near the walls. Superwoman followed soon after and picked up Thomas from the ground by the neck, holding him high at arm's length. He was barely conscious from the pain and could scarcely hear Superwoman speak.

"I'm going to kill you now and then I'll kill everyone on this island just like I did in my world."

As she squeezed his throat an arrow screamed toward Superwoman; catching her on the wrist causing to lose focus and drop Hawkeye to the ground in a heap. The evil Diana looked around and spotted her next target: the archer. As she started toward the young woman a new foe entered the fray: the Martian. This alone wouldn't have caused Superwoman to pause, but when they were joined by nearly a dozen of the Queen's personal guard and the Queen herself she stopped in her tracks, silently glaring at the foes that outnumbered her.

From behind her Superwoman heard Hawkeye raise himself from the ground with the help of Cassie, who had since arrived. The shot to her kidney had hampered her flight and she had to leap-frog her way to the temple from the original battlefield. Once standing fully erect Thomas addressed Diana.

"Surrender, you can't win here."

"Win? I won't just win. I kill you all!" Superwoman lunged forward and Thomas as he was the weakest, but was knocked backward into the far wall by a shot from Superboy, who had recovered in time to re-join the fight. Superwoman hit the wall hard, causing a large crack at its base. Just then, Robin glided down from the ceiling having brought the bio-ship above the temple when Superwoman showed up. He stepped towards the still fallen Superwoman.

"Stay down…" He realized that they didn't even know her name. "…whatever your name is."

"It's Superwoman you insolent child!" Slowly she stood up to face her opponents yet again. Without moving towards the team or the Amazons she looked to Thomas. "What was it you said about running to fight another day?" And with that she shot off through the ceiling above, retreating to Mount Justice where the rest of the Crime Syndicate awaited her return.

The force of Superwoman's exit proved too much for the temple to take. The crack from Superwoman's impact grew wider as the structure began to shudder, with dust coming down for the ceiling. Realizing what was coming, Queen Hippolyta shouted for everyone to flee before the building came down on their heads. As everyone safely exited the centuries old temple collapsed in on itself, spewing debris and dust as it did so. When the smoke cleared the Queen and her Amazons stared at the space where their mighty hall had once stood. Some openly wept at the loss of such a large piece of their lives on the island while the Queen herself was caught in rage for what had been done to their home. "Guards, arrest them!"

The team found themselves facing spears as they were herded together in the stone courtyard. Superboy took this development with extreme displeasure and was about to attack before Miss Martian initiated the mental link. [No Connor! We can't attack them, we need their help.]

[But they're arresting us after all we did was help!]

Not wanting Connor to fly off the handle and further jeopardize their chances Thomas cut in on the mental conversation. [Technically, all we did was collapse their temple while allowing an evil version of their princess to escape. Stand down while we try to sort this out.]

[Fine, but I don't have to like it.]

When the team was herded in front of the Queen she addressed them. "You will answer for your trespassing. I had agreed to meet the females of your group as your Justice League has proven staunch allies in the past. But the desecration of the temple and the presence of men on the island cannot be tolerated. What have you to say for yourselves?"

The team members quickly looked each in the eye before settling on Thomas, it was after all _his_ plan. Thomas stepped forward from the team to respond to the Queen. "You highness, I know that as men we are not allowed on your island. We had intended to remain on our ship, but when we reached the island one of your people was being savagely attacked by a fugitive in the disguise of your daughter. In reality she is from a parallel world, one in which she killed all the other Amazons. That's all the information we've been able to glean from her so far in our only encounter with her. You heard her state this in the very temple _she_helped to destroy. I know we played out part in its destruction and will not dispute that, but we only acted to save one of your own who was caught off guard believing the villain to be Wonder Woman. We arrived with only seconds to spare and saved her life." Bowing slightly Thomas returned to the group as the Queen stepped forward.

"Who was the one you saved?"

"It was me, your highness." Cassie came forward from the right of the group. "I was on the hill overlooking the sea after training when Diana flew toward me. I thought she was coming to visit when she attacked me. I thought I was going to die when these three," Motioning toward Connor, Wally, and Thomas she continued. "saved my life from this 'Superwoman'."

The Queen stood silent for a few moments while weighing this new information before approaching the team. "For saving her life I while grant you permission to leave this island, but as to your request for help from before we cannot become involved in this fight."

She turned to leave and Wally started forward. "But…"

[Wally, no! She's letting us leave, we should take the chance.]

[But Rob, she can't just say 'no' like that]

[Yeah she can dude. She's the queen, we're the outsiders.] Having calmed Wally down, the rest of the team turned to leave as M'gann called the bio-ship down.

Watching them leave, Cassie couldn't believe her Queen's decision. "My Queen, we can't let them go without aid."

"Cassandra, I have made my decision. They are outsiders and are not welcome here."

"I'm an outsider too, remember? The rest of the world isn't as bad as you think it is."

"You were too young when you left to really know that Cassandra, trust my judgment."

"I cannot my Queen; I intend to go with them."

Hippolyta sighed, knowing that the battle was already lost. She was much to like her sister. "Then go young one, your training is nearly complete and I doubt these outsiders can handle a rogue Amazon on their own. They will need your help."

* * *

The team moved slowly and dejectedly toward the bio-ship as it descended from above. Everyone was thinking the same thing, so naturally Wally was the one to talk first. "Well that was a total bust." Everyone else quietly mumbled in agreement as they trudged into the ship. As they took their seats they didn't notice a certain blonde haired Amazon follow them. "So, got room for one more?"

Turning suddenly, the team perked up quickly; realizing that the trip wasn't a complete waste. Thomas smirked and looked over at the speedster. "What was that about this being a bust?"

* * *

**A/N: Warning, next chapter will feature a character's death! Any one care to take a guess as to who it might be? Anyway, feel free to review and tell me what you hated and what you liked!**


	17. Bad Guys and Bad News

**Somewhere in Gotham****  
****June 7th – 9:30 p.m.**

Within the dimly lit room in the sectioned off part of the lounge, a gathering of people had taken place. These were the power brokers, trend setters and influential leaders of not only Gotham City, but of the world. Each of the leaders had arrived at the appointed time and place dressed in their best topped off with a white mask fashioned after the face of an owl. No one knew they existed, not even Batman – a fact the Court took great pleasure in. For over 300 years they had steered the events of history in Gotham City and America as a whole with key assassinations, corporate mergers, and rigged elections. For a time they had fallen into myth and superstition on the streets of Gotham, but now they were once again ready to take action and make their presence known. The Justice League, and more chiefly Batman, however created a serious threat to their plans and they were forced to take desperate action before the world's heroes discovered their existence and malevolent intentions.

Before the meeting had even begun, members of the Court had begun bickering noisily across the round oak table in the centre of the room. The man in charge of this particular meeting sighed before hammering his fist on the table making a loud enough thud to get the attention of the dozen or so members in attendance. Hastily each member took their seats and prepared for the task at hand as the meeting was called to order.

"Welcome!" A well-dressed 40-something year old man in a deep blue 3-piece suit stood up and addressed those gathered around the table. He sported a white owl mask like all the others. To a normal person the masks looked quite unsettling, which was exactly why they had chosen to don them even amongst themselves. "I'm glad so many of you could attend on such short notice for we have much to discuss. As you are all undoubtedly aware we have major plans of expansion in the works save for but a few final obstacles. And you should all also be aware of the progress of that front." The man fell silent and returned to a seated position.

Another figure, this one a female about half the previous speaker's age, stood with a low hanging head to speak. "I was chosen to spearhead the project to rid us of the annoyance of the Batman and the Justice League. I regret to inform of a critical failure on my part. In order to remain hidden I contacted Vandal Savage and his criminal organization known as 'The Light to handle the problem for us, so that even if he failed there would be no connection to us. His plan involved sending the Justice League to an alternate reality which he had discovered."

"I take it things have not gone as smoothly as planned?" An elderly gentleman of the group interjected himself into the discussion.

"Correct. Savage had plans beyond our own and attempted to enslave an evil version of the Justice League, known as the Crime Syndicate, from that same alternate reality. This plan has failed and the Justice League remains alive."

"Why did you even choose Savage to begin with?" The same gentleman continued to question the youth.

"Quite simply, he and his group are among the few with the strength to deal with the League. I see now he never intended to fight the League, merely moving them out of the way would suffice for him. I have failed our goal and I submit myself to this Court for punishment."

The Court was silent for several moments as though each member was contemplating their companion's final statement. Finally the oldest among the group, a woman near the age of 78, spoke in a voice just above a whisper. Her voice itself commanded the group's attention. Despite her frailty and weak voice, her achievements and power in the world were by far among the most influential in the room.

"You have indeed failed child." The woman stared around the room at her fellow members. "Before judgment is passed what else can you tell us about the situation?"

The young woman in question again spoke to the Court. "As mentioned, Savage has swapped the Justice League from our universe with that of another. At present time Owlman, Ultraman, Superwoman, J'edd J'arkus, Barracuda, and Johnny Quick are at large around the globe and wreaking havoc among the criminal world, with the intention of taking over the Earth. While those are the only members of the Crime Syndicate that Savage brought to this world, make no mistake about the face that they have the power to succeed in their aim if left unchecked."

"Who could challenge them, child?"

"I believe that the children may be able to defeat them."

To the right of the girl another male member of the group slammed his fist on the table drawing the attention to him. "The children? What can they do against them?"

The man's outburst was not taken lightly by the elderly female leader. "There is no need to speak out of turn. I agree that the children may yet be able to defeat the Crime Syndicate. They are an effective team, trained by our foe, the Batman, though it remains to be seen how they deal with their recent loss."

* * *

**10 Hours earlier**

**June 7th****  
****Atlantic Ocean – Off the coast of Northwest Africa****  
****11:30 a.m.**

Kaldur had been swimming for nearly two hours after being dropped off by the team. They couldn't use the zeta tubes for transport to Atlantis due to the risk of being tracked by their enemy so, as Thomas put it; he was going to have to get there the hard way. It had been quite a long time since Aqualad had felt this at peace despite the hard work of the swim. Spending time on the surface had been quite trying from time to time and he rarely got the time to swim this deeply anymore. The pool in the cave became boring quite quickly after the first few months and with the zeta tubes there was no real need for sea travel anymore. The water was his home and he revelled in the feeling of being enclosed by water on all sides. As he passed a school of fish, he caught the glow of Atlantis from several thousand feet away. The sea to him was much like the surface mountain regions with many peaks and valleys. One more peak and he would be among his old friends once again, those this time he would ask for help in a conflict much bigger than he wanted to comprehend.

For the last stretch Kaldur went over the situation again in his mind. The League had been kidnapped and replaced by their counterparts from another reality by Savage. The League counterparts had easily thrown off the control of Savage and gone on a rampage around the globe to take over the criminal underbelly and, it was assumed, the world itself soon after. He had been able to successfully contact Ted Kord, the Blue Beatle, to determine a way to rescue the League from the alternate dimension while the team went to Themyscira to hopefully rally support. Arsenal, as Roy was calling himself nowadays, had through Cheshire put out both a warning and a call to arms for any willing to help. Despite his reservations against the assassin Kaldur trusted Roy's judgment when it came to her and he actions. His thoughts turned to the rest of the team and their mission on Themyscira.

Since the switch had been discovered Robin had not been himself. Losing Batman had come as quite a shock to the young hero who had clearly lost a lot of people in his short life already. When it came down to it Kaldur wasn't sure if he would be up to the task of leading the team in such a critical mission. Who then would step up? Wally was far too immature and unable to understand the gravity of the situation. His uncle was also one of the Leaguers who had been kidnapped so objectivity seemed unlikely. Artemis still had been unable to control her own emotions let own the different aspects of a team in the field. Superboy was still trying to get a handle on his own powers and was far too brash to be an effective leader just yet. M'gann was too timid and Zatanna couldn't be in the field at all in her condition. That left Thomas, the team's newest addition. He was personally invested in the situation more than the rest of the team, given that Savage was responsible for him coming into this reality and for blocking his return home. Yet despite that Thomas had recovered quickly upon discovering that information and had even helped put together the plan for the team. He was green to be sure, but on previous missions he had handled himself well and was not afraid to take charge. This more than likely had to do with his mental age being just over 22 as opposed to the 18 that his body was due to the cloning and mind download. If he didn't get too overwhelmed he would be a good leader, along with Robin, for the team.

Kaldur concentrated next on what he would tell Queen Mera, but perhaps he focused too intently as he failed to notice a black armored figure creep out from behind a clump of kelp as he passed. He also failed to notice the figure shoot a poison dart until it hit him in the neck. Kaldur immediately clasped his neck upon felling the pressure of the needle as it broke his Atlantean skin. He twirled around to face his assailant before his vision became hazy and he had trouble even concentrating on what direction to swim. Darkness claimed him and he floated listlessly in the water until he was scooped up and carried to the surface by his attacker.

* * *

**Roy Harper's New York safe house****  
****4:30 p.m.**

The team had just returned from the island of Themyscira with Cassie Sandsmark. It wasn't as much help as they had hoped for, but one Amazon was better than none and they had successfully beaten Superwoman without any major injuries. Filing out of the bio-ship each member crashed on various pieces of furniture around Roy's apartment. Roy for his part was out getting groceries when he walked in on the team after most had passed out from the long day.

"By all means make yourselves at home; I guess."

Roy's little snide comment didn't escape the ears of the Boy Wonder, who had just plopped on a chair and started typing away on his wrist computer. "Sorry man, just been a long day is all. Any news?"

"Yeah there is actually, Kord thinks he'll be able to go to the reality that the League was sent to thanks to the data you got from that white Martian. If we want it done now it'll be a one way trip because he'll have to build a bridge back on the other side."

"What? When did this happen?" The young acrobat was quite excited and surprised to get a healthy dose of good news for a change.

"He figured it out a few hours ago, but went to get parts. Apparently building a quantum entangler in a run-down apartment while not having access to any Justice League facilities requires some time, who would have thought?"

Both boys laughed inwardly, not wanting to disturb the rest of the teens. Before either could say anything more they both caught the change in the news channels broadcast. A young female reporter had broken in on the afternoon cartoons.

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this breaking news story in Washington D.C. We send you live now to Trisha Lee who is on the scene. Trisha."

"Thanks Lauren." The screen shifted to a side-by-die view of the news anchor and the field reporter. "It appears that there is some major commotion going on near the Hall of Justice here in Washington D.C. Six members of the Justice League, or if you believe the national broadcast from the teen claiming to be Robin evil versions of the League, are holding a prisoner." The reporter turned her head away to the left while touching her hand to her ear to better hear the communication. "I'm getting confirmed reports that the prisoner is actually Aqualad, sidekick to Aquaman, King of the sea nation of Atlantis. So far they appear to making a statement of intentions. I-." The reporter hesitated on camera as the view switched to an aerial shot of the 6 villains outside the Hall of Justice holding Kaldur prisoner in front of a stunned audience. While the shot stayed with the villains the reporter regained her composure though there was a notable hint of sadness in her voice. "The people in question outside the Hall have just informed us that they are not the Justice League and-…-and… I can't." Sobbing openly the reporter made a motion across her neck to cut the feed.

"Trisha?" The anchor in the station had no idea what was going like many around the world. "I'm sorry but it appears that we've lost the feed from Washington D.C. I have also just been informed of the reason we lost the feed. It has been confirmed that the people in question are version of our Justice League known as the Crime Syndicate. I regret to inform the viewers that, while we cannot show the footage, that the hero known as Aqualad was murdered on the streets outside the Hall of Justice."

"NO!" Robin and Roy both yelled simultaneously as they received the news of their friend's death. They'd known he was overdue for a check-in, but assumed everything would be fine like it always was. Needless to say their screams woke the others in the room and they awoke to the horrifying news that their friend and leader was dead at the hands of their enemy.

Everyone on the team openly wept, even Superboy initially was overcome with grief. Thomas for his part watched the news with everyone else as the people brought news of the Crime Syndicate and also paid tribute to Aqualad over the airwaves. Standing in the back behind the group he was the first to speak after they found out. "Well that settles it then."

Sniffling Robin responded. "Settles what?"

"Superwoman asked why I was fighting in the first place. Now I've got my reason: I'm gonna kill them all." And with that he turned out of the room and got his spare uniform and weapons. The rest of the team slowly followed and got ready to take the fight to the enemy.

* * *

**Please review!**


	18. Once More Into the Fray

**June 7****th****  
Crime Syndicate "Headquarters" – Mount Justice  
5:00 p.m.**

Each of the seven members of the Crime Syndicate seated themselves at their conference table. Things were not ideal for them, given their current set of circumstances. Despite showing their faces to the world as the most powerful villains that this world had ever seen the people and their governments had refused to bow to their demands. Even though the Justice League wasn't around to foil their plans they had still needed to retreat from the open with the threat of a nuclear response from the United States.

Ultraman was less than pleased with this development and he felt no need to censor himself. "You said that they would fall in line Owlman!"

Slamming his fist through the table to help vent his frustration the Kryptonian turned to his immediate right to face his rival. Things in their home world had not gone smoothly for all the members of the Syndicate. Despite each being rulers of their respective territories and agreeing to cooperate with one another, there was much subterfuge and deception between this particular group of villains, which actually worked more like the mafia. In fact, not a week prior to the event that brought them here Owlman had tried to poison Ultrman with Kyptonite and take over his organization.

Owlman was unfazed by the show of anger from the alien and simply sat undisturbed with his gloved hands folded together on top of the table. Staring straight ahead, he began to speak.

"I underestimated their resolve. They know their Justice League is gone and that we would show no mercy in killing them, but they choose to fight. I believe the existence of the sidekicks and their "broadcast" several days ago gives them hope, despite us having removed said team's leader."

An annoyingly obscene Australian accent grated on everyone's ears. "Oi! Why don't we just kill the little bastards and be done with it?"

"I can't believe that the words are coming out of my mouth, but I agree with Quick." Barracuda folded his arms across his muscular chest as he voiced his opinion. "The team, even leaderless, is a threat." He smirked openly with his last remark, as he had been the one to capture and murder his counterpart's protégé before Aqualad had the time to alert Atlantis to the danger.

The low growl of Je'dd J'arkus's Martian voice came from the table opposite Owlman. "Barracuda is correct; they must be neutralized before we can move on to our ultimate goal."

Superwoman scoffed as the men before her merely talked instead of taking action. "Enough planning, Owlman. We have been on this Earth for days with far too little action for my taste. We need to strike quickly, before the humans can mount a defense."

"Patience Superwoman, you will have your chance." Owlman stood to command attention, offering a course of action to the group. "First we will need to draw out the young heroes. Without their leader they will fall easy prey to our combined strength and I know just how to beat them."

A dark gleam overcame Thomas Wayne's features, one that his Crime Syndicate counterparts so rarely saw yet knew instinctively to fear.

* * *

**Crime Syndicate Earth – Washington D.C. (I'm gonna call it Earth 3, but I don't know if I'll need to reference it again within the text or not)  
June 8th- 8:00 a.m.**

After a recent recon mission, the Justice League had regrouped to debrief on what they learned about this world and to get an update on their attempt to return home. They met in an old run-down apartment building that looked like it would soon be condemned, but standing on the site of the Hall of Justice brought things into perspective for the members of the Justice League. Here, in this reality, they had never become heroes as each of them chose a life of villainy instead. This different reality was particularly stark for Batman. Over the days that they had been in this reality, the World's Greatest Detective had discovered that his parents were never killed. For a moment the Dark Knight was happy, at least until he discovered his own fate in this upside-down world. Bruce Wayne had never even reached adulthood, his murder being the reason his young brother Thomas Wayne no reason to remain attached to the world around him. Instead of using the event as a trigger for justice-seeking vengeance Thomas Wayne, a.k.a Owlman, was now the most violent sociopath to ever walk the Earth, and he currently was running free in his world. That prospect did not sit well with the Caped Crusader, not well at all. This was of course was the reason for his current irritation at the League at their various scientific minds.

"Do you mean to tell me that none of you have any clues as to how to return to our reality?" He shot them his signature Batglare; many of the League visibly paled under his gaze.

Flash, one of the members working on the device to return them all home pushed through the tension to address their fearless (literally, nothing scared Batman) leader. "Bats, uh, I hate to be guy to tell you this, but without any data on how they pulled us here in the first place I got no idea how we're gonna get home anytime soon. They only guy I knew that worked with this kind of tech didn't make it over with us."

"Allen, I don't want to hear it unless you've got something useful." Flash gulped and put his head down after Batman's rebuke. "Now you mentioned someone who could figure it out on the other end, who was it?"

Just then, a bright flash caused the members of the League to shield their eyes. Once the blinding glare had faded, a figure could be seen kneeling on the ground as traces of smoke drifted off his form.

* * *

**June 8****th****  
Roy's Safehouse – Ney York  
7:30 a.m.**

Kaldur'ahm was dead, butchered on live television for the whole world to see that the Crime Syndicate meant business and that anyone, hero or villain, that got in their way would meet the same gruesome end. Predictably the youthful members of the Justice League's covert strike team did not take the news well. Robin simply shut himself down and withdrew from the team into Roy's spare bedroom. Kid Flash and Arsenal quickly followed their friend; grieving the loss of a man who was essentially their brother. They were the first three sidekicks ever; with Kaldur having been a close fourth, they were really close with one another. Artemis just shut off her emotions which she was only able to do thanks to her father's brutal training. Remembering this only made her mad so she went off on a rampage in New York beating the holy hell out of some villains before Miss Martian tracked her down and brought her stealthily back to the safehouse. The Martian teen, for her part, all but broke down after she brought Artemis back. Being the newest to human society she didn't know a lot of people and hadn't really been exposed to the death of a closed loved one like everyone else on the team had. Thomas wasn't really sure how to react. He was easily the newest around here and didn't know Kaldur all that well, truth be told, compared to the rest of the team. Yet Thomas had come to view the Atlantean as a friend, in fact one of the few that he had over past few months. He was sad that such a good life was cut far too short, but he was more angry than anything else. No one messed with Thomas's friends like that and got away with it! With that thought on his mind Thomas had spent the night lying on the couch stewing in anger waiting for Kord to finish up his device to get the League back. Just after 7:30 the Blue Beatle came running in from the back room screaming bloody murder.

"Hey everyone, come quick! I figured it out!" He then ran back into the room waiting for the team to wake their own asses up and follow him.

Given that the room was full of teenagers and young adults in Roy and Thomas, Blue Beatle was surprised when it took several moments for the team to drag themselves into the equipment room where Kord had set up his machine to cross universes. Finally, when everyone had squeezed into the room, Kord told them the situation.

"So using the data you recovered I figured out how the League was swapped with their counterparts. Think of it like this; each universe and everything in it vibrates at its own unique frequency. If you can find a way to affect the vibrations of the universe you can cross the universal barrier, though there will be consequences anytime you do so. Normally I wouldn't even consider crossing a universe because of those side effects, but considering our situation I'm willing to ignore that." Many members on the team simply looked at the reserve Justice League member quizzically as if to say, _What?_

"Sorry, I know this is pretty complicated stuff. I'll try to keep it simple. Essentially the League was made to vibrate at a similar, if not identical frequency as the other universe. Considering they were all in the same place it probably wasn't that hard to accomplish. Once that was done it would be fairly simple to use a quantum entanglement method to swap the Justice League with their counterparts at the same time."

Wally, ever the team's egghead, was slowly catching up to Kord's thought process and theories. "So can you just do the same thing?"

"Yes and no. I could do it if we knew exactly where the Justice League was on the other side and where their doppelgangers are here, but we don't know where either group is. Plus, building a quantum entangler would take way more time than would be needed to simple build a bridge to the other universe. So I built the bridge, but it's only one way. Once on the other side I'll need to build one to bring the League and I back to this side. Sound like a plan?"

There were several murmurs of a positive response from the team, but for the most part many didn't really comprehend what Kord had said nor did the really care. Losing their leader had been a hard lesson in reality. They'd gone so long as a team without any serious loss and being dealt such a grievous blow in the midst of a world-ending crisis was far less than the ideal. Roy was simply getting pissed at his friend's disillusionment.

"So Kord how long would it take to build on the other side?"

"Oh, probably a good 12 hours, give or take. I also rigged up a dimensional receiver on the JL communicator so I can give you status updates as I go. And don't worry, a simple signal between the universes isn't going to degrade any universal barriers or anything like that…I think." A flash of worry came over the older man's face before he quickly recovered. "So what's the plan once I'm gone?"

Robin spoke up from the corner of the room where he had been hiding. "Mostly just whole up and wait for the League to show up and if necessary minimize any damage from the evil League."

Kord smiled before exclaiming. "Well then, I'm off! You may all want to step out of the room; this is going to be loud!"

As Ted flicked a switch on the device attached to his belt a strange whir began to fill the room. Looking worriedly at one another the team bustled out of the room as Blue Beatle had warned them. No sooner had they all gotten out of the equipment and into the kitchen did the whirring intensify, building steadily into a high-pitched sound that was uncomfortable to listen to. Suddenly the sound ceased, followed immediately by a flash of light and a small bang that caused everyone in the apartment turned safehouse to jump. Quickly they all flew into the room to find Kord nowhere to be found. Where he had been standing there was only a scorch mark on the ground. Shocked that such a thing had happened everyone stood silent until a crackle came over their comm units still in their ears.

"_Hey, so don't freak out guys. It worked, see you in 12 hours! Kord out."_

Roy quickly touched his comm to initiate a short conversation. "Fine, but you could have told me that this would ruin my floor. I just got that floor covering in and it wasn't cheap!"

"Oops…"

* * *

**Please review!**


	19. Into the Last Good Fight I'll Ever Know

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters within the story.**

**Here it is ladies and gentlemen: the finale of Strange New World! This is the final showdown between the Crime Syndicate and Young Justice. Hope you enjoy the show!**

* * *

**Previously on Strange New World**

_A flash of worry came over the older man's face before he quickly recovered. "So what's the plan once I'm gone?"_

_Robin spoke up from the corner of the room where he had been hiding. "Mostly just whole up and wait for the League to show up and if necessary minimize any damage from the evil League."_

_Kord smiled before exclaiming. "Well then, I'm off!"_

* * *

**New York – Roy's Safe House  
June 8 - 11:00 a.m.**

Roy Harper stared at the spot that Ted Kord had teleported from several hours ago. A black mark marred the floor and looked like it would impossible to remove without replacing the whole floor, which had cost Roy quite a lot of money to do in the first place. Needless to say, he was less than pleased. The rest of the team had gathered in the living room to wait for word from the other side hoping that their mentors were safe in the other universe. The wait was driving most of them crazy with worry. Roy went to join them just as Ted Kord's jovial voice was heard on their comm devices drawing a sigh of relief form the group.

"_Blue Beetle to Team. I have made contact with the Justice League on this side, thankfully everyone is accounted for. Sorry for the wait. The trip nearly fried the circuitry in the communicator and I had to fix it after getting started on the bridge device. I'm handing the communicator over to Batman so I can get back to work. Should be another six hours until the device is complete, going a lot fast than I hoped."_

Batman's gravely tone was never more welcomed by any member of the team. _"Robin, sitrep."_

"On it." Robin perked up noticeably upon hearing his mentor's voice. "It's a long story so I'll start from the start. It appears that Vandal Savage and possibly his other cohorts in The Light are responsible for both your transport to the alternate universe and for bringing you're not so nice duplicates to our side. Thankfully only six made it to our side that we know of. Right now we're looking at evil versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and yourself. After attempting to find various allies we came into contact with Superwoman, the doppelganger of Wonder Woman, though Aqualad was captured while trying to return to Atlantis. With the zeta-tubes compromised and traceable he went alone by his own orders and was caught. We found most of our available information from a scientist in their project that defected and was actually the person responsible for Thomas's escape from Savage back in April."

"_What happened to Aqualad?"_

"He-." Robin hesitated before continuing. "He was executed when the Crime Syndicate, your counterparts, declared themselves to the world as conquerors.

A small moment passed before Batman resumed communication. _"Understood, anything further?"_

"No, Batman, we are waiting in a safe house in New York for your arrival. Beetle informed us it would take 12 hours to complete the device to bring you all home." Robin's voice wavered at the end of the sentence, though only because at that precise moment live footage began to play across GNN. The footage was from what looked to be an air base near D.C. Superwoman had picked up a tank and dropped it out two more, while the evil Superman was using his heat vision to blow jets from the sky. Around them the other members of the villainous group created havoc on the ground.

While everyone was starting at the screen Thomas moved over the Robin and took the earpiece. "Uh Bats, we have a bit of a situation on our end. The Crime Syndicate just started taking on the U.S. armed forces at what I think is Adams Air Force Base and the red, white and blue is losing badly. We may have to intervene before things get too much worse and I've been working on a possible plan since last night."

"_Negative Hawkeye, you will not engage that targets. You don't have the firepower to stand up to the six of them. Unless they move into a civilian population you are NOT to engage. Is that understood?"_

Looking over to Cassie, Thomas couldn't help but smirk, he was going to get to tell Batman that he was wrong. "Yes and should the need arise we'll let you know the plan. Back to your first statement I think we just might have firepower."

"_Meaning?"_ It was obvious over the device that Batman was annoyed with Thomas's less than descriptive response.

"Let's just say our little excursion to Themyscira paid off. Tell Diana that her younger sister says hello."

Batman didn't respond to that statement, instead Thomas heard several scuffling noises as though Batman had removed the ear piece and was handing it to someone. The young hero was unprepared for the outburst that followed. _"BY HERA IF YOU DON'T PUT CASSIE ON THE COMM RIGHT THIS MOMENT I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET BACK!"_

Thomas removed the earpiece and handed it to Cassie. "I think your sister wants a word." The blonde Amazon put the comm in her ear and began a highly animated discussion of the matter, while Thomas went back to the team watching the news. "Rob, we're gonna need a plan if we have to go toe-to-toe with these guys."

Wally quickly jumped up to express his opposition. "What? Toe-to-toe with an evil Justice League? Are you fucking kidding me here?"

Thomas was on top of the situation immediately. "Wally, did you guys do this against the whole League six months ago? Because I seem to recall reading that particular mission report."

"Not the same! They were under mind control, not under their own power. If they were we would have been toast, like we will be if we fight them!"

"Sorry Wall-man, but you're wrong on that one."

"Wrong?! Explain to me how I'm wrong!" The speedster was now quite red in the face and growing quite frustrated with Thomas who, judging by the smirk on his face, seemed to only find his outbursts humorous.

"Well for starters I wasn't around last time, but I am now and I've got a plan. Satisfied?"

"So you're saying that if you were here in January things would have been SO much more simple?! Is that what you're saying?!" Wally was now standing directly in front of Thomas yelling right into his face.

"SHUT UP!" Both arguers attention was drawn to the right of the room where Superboy stood looking pissed. "Could you just tell us what the plan is and THEN we can yell if we want to!" Wally backed off as requested and returned to his seat next to Artemis.

Thomas resumed speaking. "Thanks Connor. As I was saying I've got a plan. It is probably going to need some adapting but has a solid foundation at the very least. I think the first priority is taking out their speedster." Most eyes in the room widened in surprise at that as everyone on the team, save for maybe Robin, had thought they should first go after the heavy hitters that could do the most damage. Thomas noticed the curious looks in his teammates eyes. "Let me explain; while we've got ways to neutralize or at least engage the other baddies no here is as fast as him. So I'm thinking if we can either get them to meet us on our terms or have solid intelligence on where they are one of us goes in as a distraction saying we surrender or something, whilst nearly everyone else is in the bio-ship behind a building for cover."

Robin took that moment to interject his thoughts into the plan. "What do you mean by 'nearly' everyone?"

Thomas didn't miss a beat. "Right, by nearly everyone I mean Roy is going to be set up a good 300 yards away and he'll be the one taking out their Flash before he gets a chance to move."

Robin again broke into the planning. "That'd be one hell of a shot from 300 yards with a bow. No offense Roy, but I doubt you can hit that shot."

Roy, who was leaning on the wall in the back of the room, had a bit of a glint in his eye as though he found Robin's comment funny in some way. "Who says I'm using a bow?"

"Wait, you're using a gun?" Artemis was stunned to hear that GA's former protégé was using something other than a bow. Robin just nodded when he realized that the rumors he heard about Roy's change of identity were in fact true.

"Yeah, got a problem with that blondie?"

"Yeah Roy, I do!"

"I use a hell of a lot more weapons than just arrows. And how else are we supposed to take out their Flash? Wally isn't fast enough to catch him and a high-powered rifle shot to the lower legs is the only way to keep him down without killing him!"

A silence hung in the air when everyone heard how serious Roy was about using firearms to achieve his goal. It was something that none of them had ever heard of doing, mostly because they didn't see how guns could be used for good.

"Hey could we stop the pointless bickering and get back on task people?" Thomas didn't want the discussion to get anymore sidetracked. "So back to the plan…"

* * *

**Fort Benning, Georgia – 5:30 p.m.**

The Crime Syndicate had had a long day. After Owlman come up with an attack strategy they began to get right to work hitting major military bases around the nation before the U.S. Government could respond. NORAD and Adams Air Force Base were the first to get hit and after that they had moved to places like Norfolk Naval Station that were in key areas so that the military response of the country would be diminished significantly. After defeating American forces they would turn their attention to this world's "NATO" powers and then would effectively be the most powerful force on the planet. The key was moving fast and keeping their strength focused on each goal. If they split up the reduced the chance of success because in this world they couldn't rely on back-up like they could in theirs. That was why they moved to their next target at Fort Benning, one of the largest military bases in the United States.

With Ultraman, Superwoman and J'edd J'arkus flanking his invisible jet, Owlman set down on the runway with Johnny Quick and Barracuda in the back seat, the latter of whom was trying, in vain, not to vomit all over the seat. Flying never did sit well with the Atlantean. What they didn't expect was that the intrepid team of heroes would be waiting for them, thanks to the one known as Robin deducing their pattern of attack. Owlman hadn't believed that the young child could understand how his mind worked in planning objectives. Needless to say the six powerhouse villains were quite surprised to see one of the team standing in the middle of the tarmac upon their arrival. Yet there stood the one known as Hawkeye, standing brazenly out in the open as though he had no intention of fighting. There was also the possibility he was going to make a useless and vain attempt at a final stand. The Crime Syndicate was further surprised when he began conversing with them.

"Oh, hey there gang! How's it going?" His evident smile was unnerving to the group of villains. No one in their home world dared talk to them in such manner.

"Why are you here 'boy'?" Barracuda did not wish to waste time dealing with this child.

Thomas's eyes narrowed when he looked at Aquaman's doppelganger, but his voice remained jovial despite the dire circumstances the young hero seemed to be in. "Well I'm here to surrender actually. You see I'm new here and have no real interest in dying today for anything in particular."

Owlman wasn't buying the act, at least not yet. "You would surrender just like that? Even after we murdered your friend?"

"You assume he was my friend. What if I told you he was an arrogant dick whom I hated? Plus his death just showed how serious you all were and I didn't feel like sticking around to get what he got in D.C."

"Then why surrender personally when you could have simply walked away?"

"Well, uh, don't quite know what to call you, but I was actually hoping that I might get on your good side considering you'll be running things in a few more days."

The Australia speedster now addressed Thomas. "This is Owlman, Ultraman, Barracuda, J'edd J'arkus, and you have already met Superwoman." Moving forward to better size up the potential opponent he continued speaking. "My name's Johnny Quick." Quick's up-front nature drew a groan from Owlman, who was always annoyed with the youngest member of their group.

Thomas put his hand forward upon hearing their names. "Well my name's Thomas, pleased to meet you." Quick was confused at the young man's reaction and hesitantly went to return the gesture, but was surprised when Thomas simple snapped his finger on his extended hand.

Quick heard the crack mere milliseconds after feeling the fire explode in his lower leg. He blinked several times adjusting to the new sensation before staring down to see blood running down his yellow and black uniform. Seeing the whole in his leg Quick grew panicky and toppled over clutching his leg in pain.

Ultraman moved forward to assault Thomas, but was stopped when his entire body felt like it was on fire. He was falling to the ground when he noticed it: a necklace made with a piece of Kryptonite was around his neck. Apparently this world's Kryptonian hadn't removed all the pieces of his home world from the planet as he had. He looked up to see a red-head staring down over him; giving him a smirk and a mock salute, before moving at a speed that very nearly rivalled Quick's. Yet Ultraman couldn't figure out why Thomas just stood there standing over two members of the Crime Syndicate while Superwoman, Owlman, Barracuda and J'edd were bearing down on him and the speedster. What was he waiting for?

The Kryptonian quickly got his answer. From nowhere the rest of the sidekick team descended from a previously unseen ship. Each moved quickly to intercept their targets and in seconds the airstrip was turned into an all-out brawl of superheroes vs. super villains. Some kid who looked like a younger version of himself was leaping forward towards Superwoman with a look of rage in his eyes. A blonde girl flew after him. A green-clad female with a bow was attacking Owlman alongside a small child who using a variety of gadgets and acrobatic skills to land hits on the Owl. From the control tower another hero zip-lined in and also went after the only other human within the Crime Syndicate. The speedster that had dropped him was engaging Barracuda along with a girl similar in build to J'edd, who himself was busy dealing badly with Thomas, who was using his flame manipulation to quickly bring down the Martian. Truth be told, things were not looking good for the Crime Syndicate.

J'edd was trapped in a cell with flame bars while the younger Martian switched with Thomas to do something to J'edd's mind. Ultraman couldn't tell what happened but, when her eyes ceased glowing green, she moved back into the fight and J'edd was lying on the ground unmoving. Owlman was holding his own against his three opponents, but if any of the super powered teens joined his fight he would be subdued, Barracuda was himself falling prey to the heat which Thomas was emitting. As an Atlantean, he wasn't able to withstand the constant barrage of flame blasts in addition to dealing with both a speedster and a Martian assailant. In a few rounds he would fall just as J'edd, Quick, and he had done moments ago. Superwoman had taken several solid hits from Superboy, but had more than returned to favour to both he and the young blonde. One punch from the Amazon had thrown the boy several hundred feet in the air before he came crashing down, leaving a sizeable crater in the runway. Yet, despite her strength and skill, it was looking like even she would not be able to stand up to the whole team of youngsters if they couldn't retreat.

Just as that thought entered Ultraman's head, Owlman's jet exploded after Barracuda was thrown through it by the Martian girl. Needless to say the ocean dweller did not return to his feet. Barracuda's three opponents turned their attention to Superwoman while Ultraman could only watch as the Kryptonite around his neck kept him paralyzed in pain. Looking at the battlefield he couldn't help but wonder what was happening with Quick. He had seen the result of the bullet in the speedster's leg but, what with the battle, no one had been able to help him stop the bleeding. The Kryptonian truly didn't care if the speedster died, but right now they could use another ally in the fight if they were going to pull this off. Just then Ultraman felt someone put their hands around his neck and lift the necklace from his body. He couldn't turn around but he could tell the person in question was taking very pained breaths. Suddenly the pain was gone and Ultraman stood to re-enter the fray.

He turned and saw Quick laying on the ground next to where he had been only moments ago. With a nod of thanks, the Kryptonian went right after Thomas; catching the flame thrower unaware. He tossed him into the wreckage of Owlman's jet and continued into the enemy lines from behind.

"You think you can stop us? None of you have the power to stand against us!"

From his left a punch landed on Ultraman's jaw. The fully-powered Kryptonian simply shrugged it off and stared at his newest opponent, the Superboy. The young man threw another punch at him, but he easily caught it and threw an uppercut that lifted the boy into the air. While the boy was in flight Ultraman grabbed the young blonde attacking Superwoman by the hair and threw her violently into the control tower, leaving in a sizeable hole. Superwoman went to assist Owlman, who in turn threw an explosive device at the Martian girl which exploded inches from her face, causing the girl to lose consciousness. The three human opponents of Owlman were quickly cut down by Superwoman who towered over them, daring them to continue the attack. The team's speedster tried vainly to help his teammates but was clotheslined by Owlman. Something exploded in the jet wreckage, which Ultraman assumed caused a bright flash of light. Surveying the ground that was strewn with the Syndicate's victims the Kryptonian just laughed. "Is that the best you could do? No wonder your Justice League didn't want you on their level, you weren't worthy."

A piece of wreckage from the jet came flying in and if Ultraman hadn't reacted fast enough it would have imbedded itself in Owlman's shoulder. "Who says we're done?" The still standing members of the Crime Syndicate were quite surprised to see Thomas walking out of the wreckage of the jet. Their surprise was only momentary as Ultraman sped over and punched him square in the gut leaving him doubling over in pain on the ground. Superwoman and Owlman stood alongside Ultraman as he addressed the hero.

"Any last words?"

After suppressing a cough and clearing his throat Thomas replied in a raspy voice. "Look, up in the sky. Is it is bird?"

Owlman's eyes narrowed at Thomas's reply, but this only seemed to make the hero laugh hysterically. "This is where one of you says, 'Is it a plane?'"

Growing impatient Ultraman raised his fist to deliver the final blow, but hesitated when he heard Thomas's last statement. "And that's when I'd say, 'No, it's Superman, bitch!'" The three villain's eyes widened and they slowly turned their eyes skyward to see the big blue boy scout himself hover several feet above them with the rest of the League. Thomas walked toward Batman and simply said. "Mission accomplished, sir." Then he hopped aboard Green Lantern's ring platform where the rest of the teens had been moved and GL flew off toward the cave to get the kids medical treatment.

Superman floated down to the ground with Wonder Woman while Batman walked forward to face the three villains. The man who personified Truth, Justice and the American way stared into his counterpart's eyes before speaking.

"Now what are we going to do about this?"

* * *

**Mount Justice  
Several weeks later**

Thomas flipped through the channels on the TV absentmindedly, not even caring what he was watching. He was glad when Robin jumped over the sofa and sat on the other end.

"So, bored yet?"

"You can't even imagine."

"Well, then I have got news for you. Batman just sent me a message, got a mission lined up if you're interested."

"'Bout time!"

"Cool. It's just gonna be you, Connor, and me. Everyone else is still trying to process what happened."

Thomas shut off the TV. "How are you doing with everything? I mean, he was your leader. I only knew him a few months before he died."

Robin paused, something that seemed nearly out of character for the young teen. "I'll be alright. Kaldur wouldn't want me wallowing in sadness. He was a heck of guy."

Thomas nodded. "That he was."

* * *

**I went with Fort Benning, GA because if you read Sigma Squad you'll see that's where one of the characters is from. Like I said, this is a pretty big AU. I'm planning the finale of it now, but after 9 stories it's hard to warp it all up. And to think, it all started with this story only 16 months ago.**


	20. Epilogue

**This is the final entry for Strange New World and kind of kick off to my next take on the YJ universe with my OC character. The other stories are on my profile page. Enjoy and please review!**

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**40 years later  
****June 7th, 2052****  
**

"Did that all really happen, Dad?" A young boy looked up at his father after he had finished his tale of heroism. On a clear, late spring night in Washington D.C. the child and his father were standing near a row of statues outside the Hall of Justice which honoured fallen heroes. Each hero that fell in the line of duty at the very minimum received a memorial plaque dedicated to them and, if their deeds were worthy enough, they received a statue as tribute. The boy and his father were standing in front of one particular statue dedicated to the very first Aqualad. The original Justice League has placed the memorial to honour his sacrifice 40 years ago to the day.

Initially, the father had hardly registered his son's question, having lost himself in the memories of what now seemed like a past life. Right about now he was wishing that he could age just a little more normally. Dick was retiring at the tender age of 53; Damian would remain Batman, with Terry McGinnis taking over the role of Nightwing from the retiring acrobat. Artemis had semi-retired when Wally and she had quit in 2014, but had been in and out of the game for years, even after they had had kids. Wally had taken over the Flash mantel after Barry's apparent demise, but left the life after his uncle's return. The rest of the team were still active members of the community, though Zatanna was more of an overseer than a field operative. They'd all seen a lot of action together and forged a strong bond. It was becoming more and more obvious Thomas that, in the coming years, a lot of people he knew and cared about were going to grow old and die whilst he aged much more slowly, if he even aged at all. Physically he still looked and felt near 25, yet mentally he'd seen more gruesome and grisly scenes than everyone (bar the members of the Bat-clan) else had collectively.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Thomas looked at Kal, his son, without responding. The kid had grown up fast, far too fast for Thomas's liking. Kal Thomas Jackson (Thomas had decided on a new identity some 20 years prior) had been born on June 12, 2040; making him 12 in a few days' time. Following a several hundred year family tradition as the first male child, Kal took his father's first name for his middle name. He was a strongly built boy with blonde hair like his mother's. Cassie was at home taking care of their newborn, Chad, named after Thomas's younger brother in his original universe. Oddly enough they were the first two male children to be born from an Amazon throughout all of history. Normally an Amazon's genes would be dominant in any normal human/Amazon pairing, but being the pinnacle of human evolution changed the equation. This set the odds on an even level and the chances of having a boy or girl were equally as likely.

Growing impatient with his dad's silence Kal repeated his original question, which got a surprising reaction out the older man. Thomas simply laughed before responding. "Yes son, it really did."

"Well, what happened next?"

"I think I'll tell you that on the way home." Kal looked quite excited about the prospect of hearing another of his dad's hero tales. "But I'll give you a choice. Do you want to hear about the time I ran with Red Hood and the Outlaws, or the time when your Uncle Dick and I took on the Court of Owls with the first Batman? Think it over and I'll meet you in the car."

While Kal gave some thought to the question, the child scampered back to the car. Thomas watched his son head toward the parking lot and then turned back to the solid marble statue of Kaldur'ahm. Placing his hand on the base of the memorial he spoke softly.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save you Kaldur. But don't you worry your Atlantean head; I'll keep fighting the good fight."

Bowing his head for several seconds Thomas turned around and headed back to the car. The League had given him a few days off for the upcoming retirement parties, but he'd soon have to get back into the fight; just like always. For now though, he was going to enjoy spending time with his growing boys and loving wife.

-_Fin_


End file.
